In Rajathan’s Kishangarh, a dumpyard for marble slurry has become the dream destination for many. Famously known as the Switzerland of Rajasthan, the Kishangarh Dumping Yard is not your ordinary dumping yard.
Marble slurry is basically the powdered waste released while cutting marble.
The area is located about 90 kilometres from Jaipur and 18 miles northwest of Ajmer. It is also known as the Ice Mine of Rajasthan owing to the snow-like white landscape spread across 82 acres covering around 332 bighas of land.
The layers of marble slurry overlapping each other give it a look like that of a snow-clad Kashmir valley and a blue lake gives it an Iceland-like look. The location is a hot choice for the film industry and influencers alike as it offers the perfect design set up and instagrammable pictures and videos at afforable prices.
The location is also a preferred destination for wedding photography. It was reportedly in 2003 that the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO) and Kishangarh Marble Association started disposing marble slurry from nearby processing units into the ground.
It is since then that the landscape has been filled to a great height since decades of marble slurry dumping. White trees have also been added for beautification ever since tourism increased. The height of the dump is now raised to about 15-20 metres.
The entry here is free of cost. However, commercial shooting, wedding photography are charged and DSLR charges are extra too.
Charges are Rs 50,000 for commercial video shoots and Rs 5,000 for wedding photography.
Moreover, a confluence of movies and wedding shoots is born here in the marble dump yard. While the demand for pre-wedding shoots is skyrocketing, the poses preferred by many couples is the signature ‘Suraj hua madham’ pose and such.
Celebrities like Anil Kapoor, Kapil Sharma and Tiger Shroff have shot here too. Naturally, the location has provided a big boost to tourism in an otherwise industrial city.
Kishangarh was once the capital of a 400-year-old kingdom mainly known for its art of miniature paintings. Today, it is the largest supplier of marble in Asia.
Kanan Saxena, head of zoology department at Meera Government Girls College, Udaipur, report said, “Slurry is basically calcium carbonate added with other minerals or chemicals like dolomite, gypsum and sulphates. It destroys the soil cover and contaminates ground water, prohibiting vegetation.”
The marble particles are easily inhaled and can lead to respiratory diseases. The quality of air according to experts is also quite poor in the area to the extent that wounds take time to heal. It is also known to contaminate ground water to a large extent.
Even so, these factors don’t deter the commercial interests of the people for its easy-on-the-pocket facility. The Kishangarh dump yard fulfils the same purspose that a scenic winter valley in Kashmir and Himachal would but at a much lower price.
Moreover, it saves time too, particularly for the film industry to travel from Mumbai to Rajasthan.
With the craze for Instagram reels and YouTube shorts, young tourists now travel all the way to Kishangarh dumping yard just so that they can take click some pictures and record videos.
