PICTURESQUE ETMAD UD DAULA TARDY MAINTENANCE    The Main Gate which leads to a mausoleum, the Etmad Ud Daula. A beautiful structure of the Mughal Period, the Etmad Ud Daula is about four hundred years old..much older than The Taj Mahal, which is also a mausoleum. The Main Structure – The Etmad Ud Daula – poetry in white marble. Exquisite Marble Inlay Work. The Marble Mesh tells its own story of the workmanship. One of the finest examples of the craftsmanship of the Mogul Era. Inlay Work – par excellence – The Maintenance – it’s another story. As is the case with all national Monuments…this too is maintained by the Archeological Survey of India. Another ugly page in the annals of the Archeological survey of India. Instead of reconstructing the beautiful inlay work done by the artisans some four hundred years ago, the Archeological survey of India thought it fit to do patch work with ordinary plaster. Would this not be called defacing a monument of National Importance? The notice outside the main gate of Etmad Ud Daula reads as it does…… From the previous pictures it is obvious that the Archeological Survey of India, which has been given to maintain these monuments of National Importance, by the Government of India, has itself defaced them….. It is unfortunate when Government bodies flout the very rules that they themselves make. The Monument has been defaced. The culprit is known. Who is to be punished…a big question mark..???? To add insult to injury...in the back drop of the Etmad Ud Daula, the once mighty Yamuna stands reduced to a city sewer, throwing its stench at the visitors to this 'protected monument'. While the States of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan fight for the YAMUNA,its importance in the eyes of the local Government is no hidden secret. 'O Destiny take what Course thou shalt' is apparently the attitude towards the Yamuna here.