Narendra Modi's Rs 400-crore Kashi Vishwanath Dham project to inaugurate on Monday

[caption id=“attachment_10204221” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The Kashi Vishwanath Dham project in Varanasi, linking the Lalita Ghat on the river bank to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 13 December ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls. News18[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10204231” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The PM had launched the around Rs 400-crore project in his parliamentary constituency in March 2018, which is being anchored around Lord Shiva’s ancient Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The idea is to preserve existing heritage structures, ease the movement of people around the temple and connect it with Ghats with direct visibility. News18[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10204321” align=“alignnone” width=“800”] While land acquisition was one aspect of the project, the other part in the journey of the project was its design and development. Not only did PM Modi give the initial briefing to the architects, but also gave constant inputs and insights for the architectural design. News18[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10204331” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Then there were 37 families associated with the Manikarnika Ghat (where cremations happen in Varanasi) who were consciously given much higher compensation for their small dwellings given their socio-economic situation, said Varanasi commissioner Deepak Agarwal. More Rs 70 crore was spent towards rehabilitating nearly 1,400 people who lived in that entire area. News18[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10204361” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The idea is to have 20-25 feet wide corridor from the Lalita Ghat in Varanasi to the Mandir Chowk in the temple premises to enable at least two lakh people to be present at a given point of time. The project involves building multiple amenities for pilgrims such as Yatri Suvidha Kendras, guesthouses, hospice, library, and museum. News18[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_10204371” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The various facilities that are being built in the premises include a Ganga-view cafe, a Mandir Chowk surrounded by emporium space in three floors, food courts, shops, spiritual bookstore, a VIP guest house, Mumukshu Bhawan, Vedic Kendra, Bhog Shaala, a tourist facilitation centre, three Yatri Suvidha Kendras, toilet blocks, and two museums — City Museum and Varanasi Gallery. These facilities could be run on PPP mode. News18[/caption]