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NEW DELHI, March 20 (AFP) - India's Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the government to formulate security plans to prevent possible attacks by Islamic militant groups on the Taj Mahal, a report said.

According to the United News of India (UNI) news agency, the federal government as well as the local government in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where the famous marble monument to love is situated, were given until April 9 to present the security proposals to the court.

The court was hearing a public interest petition filed seeking to protect the 16th-century Mughal era monument from air pollution when the threat posed by Islamic militant groups was also considered, the UNI report said.

Security measures at the Taj Mahal were tightened in January after Uttar Pradesh government officials said they had received threats via e-mail, allegedly from the Lashkar-e-Taiba Muslim militant group which is fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, threatening to blow up the monument.

There was a swift denial from Lashkar -- one of two Pakistan-based militant outfits blamed by India for an attack on its parliament on December 13, which triggered a dangerous military build-up along the Indo-Pakistan border.

The Supreme Court ruled that on April 9 it would decide whether the security of the monument should be entrusted to the federal or local administrations, the UNI report said.

The Taj Mahal was built by the heart-broken emperor Shah Jehan in memory of his beloved second wife who died during childbirth.

More than 10,000 artisans toiled for over 20 years to construct the mausoleum, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. 

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