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SEVEN WONDERS: NARINDERPAL SINGH POSSESSES A COIN RELEASED IN 1992 BY CONGO GOVERMENT ON THE TAJ MAHAL

Interestingly, India which boasts of having the Taj has till date never released a coin which Congo did one-and-a half decade back.

The numismatist said,”The Commonwealth Countries release a coin whenever any special event takes place in England’s royal family. A similar coin was released on the occasion of Prince Charles’ marriage too.”

He said that the coin also reflects India’s relations with the Royal family and the respect for Indian monument as Lady Diana has her head covered with scarf during her visit to Taj (as shown on the coin).

This coin collector who has collected currency notes of 140 countries and has rare and the biggest collection of coins of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s time said,”It was in 1967 when department of posts released its first stamp on Taj of denomination of 15 paise. It was in royal colour. And second stamp on the Taj came up in 2005 which is of Rs 15 denomination and is a large coloured stamp. It is ironical that Indian government never released coin on Taj.”

Narinderpal Singh, a mechanical engineer, said,”I also appeal to the public to vote for Taj so that it may figure amongst the modern wonders of the world list for which the voting concludes on July 6.”

Taj Mahal is facing stiff competition from 20 other heritage sites across the world.

A Swiss based organisation “New Open World Corporation” started the process in September 1999 for making a list of “New seven wonders of the world”. In November 2004, the list of 177 monuments for consideration as wonders of the world came up. It was reduced to 21 in January 2006. And now on July 7, the final list will be released.

Earlier, Puneet Singh Dhawan, Surinder Sharma and Mohit Arora, city based trio started their campaign for Taj Mahal on June 3 by making people aware about the voting pattern.