On a two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Varanasi today, on December 13, and inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath corridor in the afternoon.
The corridor, which connects the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple with the banks of Ganga river (Lalita ghat) has been built at a cost of Rs 3,390 million over a course of less than three years. Its foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister on March 8, 2019.
The purpose of the corridor project is to provide easy access to the temple for the devotees who offer prayers after taking the holy dip in the Ganga river on the Lalitpur ghat.
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Earlier, the devotees had to pass through the congested, narrow streets to offer prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
However, the Kashi Vishwanath corridor project also involves the beautification and development of various other sites in Varanasi. A government release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) informed today that a total of 23 buildings including tourist facilitation centre, Vedic Kendra, Mumukshu Bhavan, Bhogshala, city museum, viewing gallery, food court among others — will be inaugurated as part of the project.
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Property acquisition for Kashi Vishwanath corridor
The government press release mentioned that the project involved the purchase and acquisitions of more than 300 properties around Kashi Vishwanath temple.
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“Prime Minister’s vision to take everyone along was the principle based on which mutual negotiations were done for these acquisitions. In this endeavour, the rehabilitation of around 1400 shopkeepers, tenants and homeowners were done amicably,” it stated.
The PMO added that the smooth acquisition can be assessed by the fact that there is no litigation pending in any court of the country regarding acquisitions or rehabilitation related to the development of the project.
PM Modi’s visit to Varanasi
In his two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi will attend many other programs apart from the Kashi Vishwanath corridor project.
The Prime Minister will witness Ganga Aarti while on board a Ro-Ro Vessel at today evening.
On 14 December, at around 3:30 pm, the Prime Minister will attend the 98th anniversary celebrations of Sadguru Sadafaldeo Vihangam Yog Sansthan at Swarved Mahamandir in Varanasi.
During the two-day visit, the Prime Minister will also participate in a conclave of Chief Ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, along with Deputy CMs from Bihar and Nagaland.
