The Taj Mahal in Agra will be shut for visitors from noon on February 24 during United States President Donald Trump’s first two-day trip to India, ANI reported on Friday.

Vasant Kumar Swarnkar, Superintendent of the Agra Division of Archaeological Survey of India, said the iconic monument will be closed due to security reasons. Security checks and other measures have been being taken to ensure that there is no security lapse.

Local vendors in the city said police have asked them to provide their Aadhaar card as a part of the verification process. “All the houses, shops, restaurants and hotels on the main route and near the Taj Mahal area have been identified,” Superintendent of Police (City) Botre Rohan Pramod said.
“The verification process is about to finish. Some teams have also been put for getting the verification done.”

Trump and his wife Melania Trump are expected to leave Ahmedabad at 3.30 pm on Monday after attending the “Namaste Trump” event. They will visit Taj Mahal before sunset.

In the city, authorities are on a clean-up drive, including of the polluted waters of the Yamuna river, which is behind the monument complex. The Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department has released 500 cusecs of water into the Yamuna in order to improve its “environmental condition”. Workers have scrubbed walls and fountains at the monument, which was commissioned in 1632 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his late wife Mumtaz.