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UP undertakes facelift of major pilgrim towns ahead of 2022 polls
A number of projects are underway for the development of Varanasi, Mathura, Ayodhya, Chitrakoot and the Vindhya region
A visit to the Kashi Vishwanath temple through the narrow and slippery lanes of Varanasi had left Mahatma Gandhi in deep pain about 100 years ago.
As the Mahatma went to the temple, he saw swarming flies, and stinking rotten flowers greeted him at the entrance there.
“I went to the Kashi Vishvanath temple for darshan. I was deeply pained by what I saw there. When practising as a barrister in Bombay in 1891, I had occasion to attend a lecture on ‘Pilgrimage of Kashi’ in the Prarthana Samaj hall. I was therefore prepared for some measure of disappointment. But my actual disappointment was greater than I had bargained for,” observed Mahatma Gandhi in his autobiography My Experiments With Truth while recalling his experiences during his visit to Varanasi.
Gandhi further observed, “The approach was through a narrow and slippery lane. Quiet there was none. The swarming flies and the noise made by the shopkeepers and pilgrims were perfectly insufferable. Where one expected an atmosphere of meditation and communion, it was conspicuous by its absence….When I reached the temple, I was greeted at the entrance by a stinking mass of rotten flowers.”
Much water has flowed down the Ganga since then. A mega project is underway to give the temple area a facelift.
A sum of over ₹1000 crore is being spent on implementation on the facelift projects and the ongoing Kashi Vishwanath corridor is among them.
Varanasi is not the only town in focus. A number of other projects are underway for the development of Mathura, Ayodhya, Chitrakoot and the Vindhya region ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election.
“Uttar Pradesh has a huge potential for the development of tourism. It’s better to explore possibilities of attracting more domestic and international tourists. We have identified 12 circuits, including Ramayana (spots related to Lord Ram), Mahabharata (spots linked to the epic), Krishna (spots linked to Lord Krishna), Buddhist, and Sufi spiritual circuits. We also have freedom movement and eco-tourism (national parks etc) circuits. We are providing basic amenities at the all such spots and trying to make them aesthetically nice,” said Mukesh Meshram, director general, Tourism.
Chief secretary RK Tiwari said this would not be just a face lift but would bring about a comprehensive development of these religious cities/towns. He said in the long run this would lead to transformation of these cities/towns and development of the areas around them as well.
Union home minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of the “Maa Vindhyavasini Corridor” project on August 1 that will come up at a cost of about ₹300 crore in Mirzapur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh. At the instance of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the state government recently got the Uttar Pradesh Vindhya Dham Teerth Vikas Parishad Bill 2021 passed in the state assembly “to provide high level infrastructure facilities for devotees and tourists visiting Vindhya Dham region, to preserve, develop and maintain the aesthetic quality of cultural, ecological and architectural heritage of Vindhyachal and to coordinate and monitor the implementation of schemes and to develop relevant policies for integrated development of tourism there.”
The Uttar Pradesh Shri Chitrakoot Dham Teerth Vikas Parishad Bill 2021 has also been passed “for the preparation of a plan for preserving, developing and maintaining the aesthetic quality of Chitrakoot heritage in all hues — cultural, ecological and architectural; coordinating and monitoring the implementation of such plan and for evolving harmonised policies for integrated tourism development and heritage conservation and management in the region.”
The state government got another bill passed to rename the Saharanpur State University, Saharanpur, as Maa Shakumbhari University, Saharanpur, in the recent Monsoon session of the state assembly.
The Uttar Pradesh Braj Teerth Vikas Parishad was set up for conservation of culture and development of Braj region in 2017.
“The chief minister decided to set up the board for the development of the Braj region. The chief minister is president of the board and chairs its meetings. He has visited the region eight to 10 times in the past four years. A number of projects are being undertaken for development of the area that include the projects being undertaken by the board with an investment of about ₹300 crore,” said Shailja Kant Mishra, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and vice chairman of the board.
“It’s a welfare state and the government’s job to work for the welfare of people and provide facilities to them. If the government is carrying out development at religious places and providing facilities to the people, it is bound to get the support of people. Such steps are bound to prove advantageous to the party in power in the elections,” said professor SK Dwivedi, former head of the department of political science at Lucknow University.
The Opposition is, however, not amused.
“Most of the projects, including the work on the Kashi Vishwanath corridor or the development of Mathura and Ayodhya, along with Poorvanchal Expressway, were conceived during the tenure of the Samajwadi Party government. The BJP government has failed to complete such projects and talking about them is only an election stunt,” said Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary.
Ayodhya has been in focus after the Supreme Court verdict of November 9, 2019, paved the way for construction of the Ram temple. A large number of development projects are being implemented there.
A vision document has been worked out for development of the temple town. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently viewed a presentation about the vision document in the presence of Yogi. PM suggested that Ayodhya should be developed in a manner that would put the temple town on the centre stage of the world as a modern city while maintaining its ancient cultural heritage and glory. An international airport is coming up in Ayodhya and the state government recently shifted two PWD divisions to expedite the pace of implementation of various development projects there.
