Taj in new ?Seven Wonders? race
INDIANS WERE on Tuesday asked to liberally vote to have the Taj Mahal on list of seven new wonders of the world. The list, being finalised by ?New7Wonders?, is to be officially declared on July 7, 2007 at Lisbon in Portugal. The Taj is one amongst 21 sites shortlisted in the final phase as voting continues globally to select the seven new wonders of world.
INDIANS WERE on Tuesday asked to liberally vote to have the Taj Mahal on list of seven new wonders of the world. The list, being finalised by ‘New7Wonders’, is to be officially declared on July 7, 2007 at Lisbon in Portugal. The Taj is one amongst 21 sites shortlisted in the final phase as voting continues globally to select the seven new wonders of world.
Bernard Weber, founder of ‘New7Wonders’ handed over the certificate of candidature for Taj to DK Burman, joint director for UP Tourism. The presentation was conducted on the Central Tank of the monument.
“Nearly 23 million votes have been cast worldwide to shortlist the man-made structures before narrowing down to a new list of seven wonders,” said Weber.
“Voting will continue till July 6 and on July 7 an official declaration will be made at Lisbon,” he said adding, “Taj holds a good chance and requires continuing support, especially from India.”
“One has to name seven favourite sites and vote could be cast through internet or SMS,” he said. The world tour completed its stay in Asia today with the visit to Taj and is expected to move next year towards Africa, Middle East and the America to visit the remaining eight finalist out of the 21 shortlisted sites.
“Our share in world tourism is as low as 0.02 percent despite having a big treasure of heritage and as such the projection granted through events like ‘New7Wonders’ would assist in boosting the tourism prospect,” said Burman. He urged Indians to vote more and more to keep the Taj in the race, ahead of other monuments.
“It is a uniform platform provided worldwide and initially about 300 monuments were shortlisted for voting purpose,” said Bernard.
The voting was narrowed down to the list of 77 sites and now there are 21 left. They include among others The Acropolis in Athens, Greece, Taj Mahal in India, Great Wall of China, Eiffel Tower of Paris, Colosseum in Rome and Statue of Liberty.