The grand Kashi Vishwanath Dham project to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 13 in Varanasi will be spread over 30,000 square meters with expected footfalls of nearly 40,000 on the weekend and nearly 3 lakh on peak events such as ‘Maha Shivratri’ and ‘Saavan’.
The blueprint of the project, accessed exclusively by News18, gives a bird’s eye view of the project that will link the 1780-built Kashi Vishwanath Temple to the Lalita Ghat on the Ganga riverbank. It is from Lalita Ghat that PM Modi will enter the corridor on December 13 to inaugurate it and walk up till the temple.
Renowned saints from across India, including the Mahants of all Jyotirlingas, Pithadeshwars and Mahamandaleshwar have been invited for the function.
The riverbank will be lit up with a laser show and fireworks, and a month-long ‘Bhavya Kashi Divya Kashi’ programme in Varanasi is being planned from December 13 to January 14 in which Prasad of Kashi Vishwanath Temple and a booklet on the project will be sent to every house of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh BJP’s co-convener of social media Shashi Kumar told News18.
A conference of BJP CMs and 200 mayors from across India is also planned.
The Blueprint
PM Modi had launched the work on this project in his constituency in March, 2018. The blueprint shows that the total project area is spread over 30,000 sq meters, with expected footfall of 15,000 on weekdays, 40,000 on weekends and 2.5 to 3 lakh during peak days such as ‘Maha Shivratri’. Multiple amenities have been built for pilgrims like three ‘Yatri Suvidha Kendras’, guesthouses, hospice (‘Mumukshu Bhavan’), library, museum and a spiritual book centre along the 25-feet wide corridor from Lalita Ghat to Kashi Vishwanath Temple. A Ganga View Cafe, a grand Mandir Chowk spread over 3,500 square meters, a City Museum & Nilkanth Pavilion and seven ornamental gates are the other highlights of the project.
The main temple premises, common areas such as the corridor, ghats and buildings like the Yatri Suvidha Kendras, Bhogshala and Nilkanth Pavilion will be maintained by the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Parishad. Certain building facilities like Jalpan Kendra, Ganga View Cafe and others will be leased out to various entities as part of a Public-Private Partnership model, News18 has learnt. This correspondent has taken a tour of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham project on November 12 to find hectic work on at the work site day-and-night.
The architect of the project, Bimal Patel, and Varanasi Commissioner Deepak Agarwal will be doing a detailed briefing on the project on Wednesday.
The Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi was constructed in 1780 by the Maratha monarch, Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore. “Ushering major transformation in the city, this project shall meet several key objectives of preserving existing heritage structures, easing the traffic and movement of people around the temple and connecting the temple with the nearby ghats in the city,” a senior official involved in the envisioning of the project told News18.
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