India's gilded temples tarnish due to air pollution

The gilded walls of India's Golden Temple once shone brightly, but years of air pollution have left them dusty and dull.

Golden Temple in Amritsar, India

The Golden Temple in Amritsar was built in 1585. The walls of the 430-year-old temple are in need of major repairs. "Pollution is causing the Golden Temple to deteriorate. We need to do a lot to protect this holy site of the city," Tech Times quoted Gunbir Singh, head of the environmental protection organization Eco Amritsar, as saying yesterday.

Environmental activists and religious leaders have launched a campaign to cut air pollution in the city, including promoting cooking with gas instead of charcoal inside the temple kitchen, which prepares and serves free food to 100,000 people every day.

Farmers have been encouraged not to burn stubble while working in the fields. Authorities have also considered traffic controls and moving industrial areas near the shrine. But change has been slow, and pollution monitoring equipment has yet to be installed.

"We are aware of the rising pollution. We are in the process of procuring equipment to check the polluted area, pollution levels from each source on a daily basis," said Jaswant Singh, environmental engineer at the Pollution Control Board.

The environment agency has also banned the use of certain fuels for cooking in residential communities and restaurants near the Golden Temple and banned the burning of garbage. The city government is planning to build a power station to prevent people from using diesel generators.

According to VNE