A PUNE-BASED social and religious organisation, Pune Navratri Mahotsav, led by former mayors and present councillors of Pune Municipal Corporation, has put forward a proposal to promote religious tourism between Pune and Varanasi.
Officer-bearers of the organisation laid the foundation stone of a dharamshala on 4.5 acre land in Ramnagar area on Friday with a view to provide lodging facilities to pilgrims visiting the holy city from Maharashtra. Construction will begin in the next six months.
Like every year, office-bearers have arranged for the pilgrimage of 1,200 poor elderly people from Maharashtra to Varanasi. The group is being led by Baba Ulhas Alba Bagul, ex-chairman of the standing committee of Pune Municipal Corporation. The group visited several religious and tourist spots in Varanasi on January 11 and 12.
Former mayors of Pune Municipal Corporation Shanti Lal Suratwala and Vastala Andeker, and councillors Ankush Kakre, Minachi Kadagi and Sanjay accompanied the group. They said a formal proposal would be sent by the Pune Municipal Corporation to Varanasi mayor Amar Nath Yadav for developing Varanasi as a sister city of Pune with some financial aid from Pune.
“Bremin in Germany and San Jose in USA are known as sister cities. Efforts should be made to associate Varanasi and Pune as sister cities to promote tourism at a time when fundamentalist forces, like the Shiv Sena, are trying to stop the inflow of north Indians to Maharashtra,” Bagul said.
{{/usCountry}}“Bremin in Germany and San Jose in USA are known as sister cities. Efforts should be made to associate Varanasi and Pune as sister cities to promote tourism at a time when fundamentalist forces, like the Shiv Sena, are trying to stop the inflow of north Indians to Maharashtra,” Bagul said.
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