India is literally draining a swamp ahead of Trump’s visit

River cleaning is part of widespread beautifcation project that also includes screening away slums from view

In this picture taken on February 12 2020 a man washes clothes on the banks of the Yamuna river in Agra (Noemi Cassanelli/AFP/Getty Images)

US president Donald Trump vowed to “drain the swamp” of lobbyists and elites in Washington DC. Now, one Indian city is racing to clean up a stagnant river as he prepares to visit.

Mr Trump arrives in India on 24 February on a maiden two-day trip that aims to repair bilateral relations hurt by a trade spat.

He plans to visit the western city of Ahmedabad and India’s capital New Delhi, as well as Agra, where he will view the famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, at sunset.

In the city, authorities are on a clean-up drive, including the polluted waters of the Yamuna river, that backs on to the monument complex.

Jal Singh Meena, an officer with the Agra Ganga Nahar, the government body that manages the canal network that feeds into the Yamuna in Agra, said on Thursday an additional 17 million litres of water are being released from three locks in the week preceding Mr Trump’s visit on Monday: more than double the usual amount.

The extra flow had been ordered “to keep it clean and remove the foul smell,” he told Reuters.

On Thursday, workers scrubbed walls and fountains at the monument, commissioned in 1632 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his late wife Mumtaz, television channels showed.

India’s best-known attraction, the Taj Mahal is visited by nearly seven million tourists a year, according to official data, but has been blighted by overcrowding and pollution.

Along with polluted water, authorities are battling some of the world’s filthiest air that stains the white marble of the monument, and increasingly aggressive troops of monkeys that have been known to attack visitors.

District authorities have denied local media reports they have relocated some of the more troublesome primates for the visit, and that a bridge on a proposed route taken by Mr Trump will be unable to bear the weight of his armour-plated limousine known as “The Beast”.

Reuters