Taj mahal ready for royal visitors

The Taj Mahal is ready for the hyped visit of British royal couple, prince William and Kate, on Saturday.

According to the programme released here, the royal couple will have lunch and dinner at hotel Amar Vilas. They will see the Taj Mahal around 4.00 p.m., and leave late in the evening for Delhi by a special chartered plane.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will not be coming to welcome the dignitaries, as was earlier reported by a section of the media, and some hoardings placed.

The famed Diana seat on the central pool has been repaired, and the staircase were given a fresh coat of paint.

On Friday, municipal workers were seen cleaning up the whole area in Taj Ganj.

The almost 10 km long stretch of road from Kheria airport to the hotel Amar Vilas has been spruced up and barricades ready to be placed to stop traffic when the dignitaries pass the heavily guarded Mall road.

"Clearly there is no excitement among the people here, for whom they remain symbols of imperialism that subjugated India for over two centuries. Although the media is trying hard to hype the visit of the royal couple. For us it is like any other VIP visit," commented social activist Shravan Kumar Singh.

William and Kate are following the footsteps of the prince's mother, Princess Diana, who visited the symbol of love 24 years ago.

Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan in 1631 to hold the body of his wife as an enormous, opulent expression of his love.

The visit to the Taj will be the last stop for Prince William and the duchess, the former Kate Middleton, on a seven-day tour to India and Bhutan.