Agra: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which administers the Taj Mahal has concluded after conducting a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey of the main mausoleum following the incident of water dripping that the lime plaster swelled due to rust in the urn on the roof of the edifice. Eventually, the lime plaster came off due to heavy rains in September. The ASI will fix the urn in two phases and a tender would be floated for the work.
Nagging rains battered Agra for four consecutive days in September and water started dripping in from the roof of the Taj Mahal on September 12. An inspection was conducted by ASI applying the LiDAR technology to detect the leakage points and found two such places on the mausoleum.
The surface near the gate located on the roof is not very smooth. Conservation work was done on the Taj Mahal during the British period. The leaked water did not go down due to the removal of mortar near the base of the urn. ASI's superintending archaeologist Dr Rajkumar Patel said the roof of the main tomb would be conserved and tenders would be issued soon. The conservation of the Kalash and the dome will be taken up in the second phase.
LiDAR uses light in the form of a pulse laser with the GPS and a scanner embedded. This technology helped unearth vital information about the ancient Mayan civilization in Mexico.
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