P. Singh, the movement of heavy traffic including thousands of buses and trucks daily between the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal -- both World Heritage monuments -- needs to be restricted or banned as has been suggested time and again.

The Taj was given a holiday from tourists every Friday to provide breathing time and for maintenance work after the apex court accepted the recommendations of the high-powered S. Varadarajan Committee, but now even on Fridays the number of visitors is increasing.

Initially, residents of nearby Taj Ganj were supposed to offer namaz at the mosque within the Taj complex every Friday. But last Friday, hundreds of people from other areas also entered the Taj for prayers, according to a guide.

Till about two decades ago, there were just a few people who visited the Taj Mahal to pray on the annual Urs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. But now not only has the number of participants gone up but the size of the 'chadar' that is offered by devotees has also increased to 300 feet.

Celebrations go on for three days, thanks to the competitive fervour displayed by various Urs committees. They organise qawwalis, free distribution of sweets and a procession with the ceremonial chadar.

As a precautionary measure, the celebration committee of the Urs - with representatives from the ASI, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), district bodies and various Muslim organisations - has decided this year that the banners will not have any identification marks, the procession with drums and bands will stop in the forecourt.

(Brij Khandelwal can be contacted at brij.k@ians.in)