Kashi is the heart of the Indian civilization. The heritage of the marvellous city is regarded as old as time itself and as American author Twain puts it the city is “older than history”.
Hailed as the city of Lord Shiva, who is affectionately called Bhole Baba, the city is famous for the Kashi Vishwanath temple, home of the most revered jyotirlinga, located in the bustling street of old Banaras. The temple attracts millions of pilgrims every year from across the country. The shrine is located in the congested lanes of old Kashi, with no direct link to Ganga river. Apart from the absence of the link, it is surrounded by hundreds of old houses which makes the temple hidden between the concrete structures
PM Modi laid the foundation stone of Kashi Vishwanath Dham project in March this year, which includes removal of the buildings surrounding the Kashi Vishwanath temple and providing direct connectivity between the shrine and the Ganga river. Starting of the project was a dream come true for PM Modi who thought about a similar kind of project in Kashi even before joining the arena of active politics.
After winning elections from Kashi in 2014 he had remarked –
“I have not come here (Kashi) but I was called”
While laying the foundation of Kashi Vishwanath Dham in March this year, PM Modi remarked –
" When I came for elections in 2014, I had said that I haven't come but have been called here. Today, I think that was an invitation for such work only and now that resolve has further strengthened.
Vishwanath Dham is a project that I have been thinking about for a long time. I have come to Kashi even before I was in active politics. Since then I would think that one must do something for the Temple Complex. With the blessings of Bhole Baba, my dream has come true”
The demolition of buildings around the temple, for the Kashi Vishwanath corridor project had started last year (2018), and the demolition led to the recovery of at least 40 very ancient temples. All those ancient temples were buried under other construction around them and people had built kitchens, bathrooms and much more atop those temples.
Centuries old ancient temples, earlier hidden are now visible, they will be preserved and will be opened to public.
Another area of concern was a direct link between Kashi Vishwanath Temple (KVT) and Ganga river. Now with a direct link between the temple and the Ganga river, one can reach the temple premises within minutes, without going around in the lanes.
The completion of project will give Kashi Vishwanath Temple complex a brand-new look and more space. Once situated in the congested space among the surrounding buildings, the temple complex will now have its area of own. A devout Shiva bhakt who takes a dip in the holy river every morning and pays his tribute to Lord Shiva in the temple can now see the temple from the Ghats. It means a lot to a Kashiwasi, who earlier had to go through many lanes to reach temple, after taking a dip in the holy Ganga.
In terms of rural areas, the Varanasi district seems to be better off than most others in the state, on an average. While a Lok Sabha constituency and district do not overlap exactly, parameters of the latter do give an adequate indication of the constituency’s situation.
The Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, for instance, comprises five assembly segments — all of which fall in the district.
Under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), according to which MPs are to identify and adopt a village in their constituency to turn it into a “model village”, the PM has adopted three — Nagepur, Jayapur and Kakarahiya.
Among these, Jayapur gram panchayat has a national rank of 43, Nagepur 44 and Kakarahiya 54 as per rural development ministry’s data.
The lowest rank is 99, which means all three villages are somewhere around the midway mark. While data has been collected for 2,46,799 gram panchayats, there are several villages which score identically and hence, have the same rank. As many as 229 GPs fall in the 1-10 rank group alone.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have put in special efforts to showcase this ancient centre to the world as one of the cleanest, connected and conserved place on earth. A major drive under Swachh Bharat Mission is already showing results, wi-fi connectivity along the major ghats is a reality and a special partnership agreement with Japanese city of Kyoto will help Varanasi demonstrate the diversity and depth of Indo-Japan relationship and its human dimension.
The Prime Minister has also put a major emphasis on job creation in the region with the help of Indian Railways and by reviving the textile and powerloom industry.
All efforts are on to make this city a World Heritage site, a promise Prime Minister Modi made when he filed his nomination in April of 2014. T
his focus is on state of the art tourism and infrastructure facilities including a major thrust towards cleanliness under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
The Prime Minister has taken up the cleanliness drive with a personal involvement and regular monitoring and the results are already beginning to show.
PM inaugurates and lays foundation stone of various development projects in Varanasi.
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