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Updated December 2nd, 2021 at 10:29 IST

Dreamt by Gandhi, envisioned by PM Modi, Kashi Vishwanath Corridor to open on Dec 13

The project makes the Kashi Vishwanath temple accessible from the Ganga, making pilgrimage holistic and easier with new amenities and conveniences.

Reported by: Abhishek Kapoor
PM Modi
Image: PTI | Image:self
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PRIME Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor in Varanasi on December 13. The architectural reimagining of the temple complex around the presiding deity of the ancient town and connecting it with the river Ganga which flows by 300 meters away was conceived by the PM who also represents the constituency in the Lok Sabha. Devotees, tourists, and visitors can now reach the temple from the riverfront by boat with the majestic façade of the temple complex now accessible from the ghats via the corridor.

The Rs 800 crores project has been completed in record time between the local administration and design firm led by famous architect Bimal Patel, who has also designed the new parliament building and the central vista in Delhi. A veteran of urban planning and big public spaces, Patel is also the brains behind the Sabarmati riverfront and Kankariya lakefront in Ahmedabad, the Aga Khan Foundation in Hyderabad, and the new IIM (Indian Institute of Management) campus in Ahmedabad, among others. 

PM Modi’s vision and brief 

Explaining the project, Patel said that he got a one-line brief from the Prime Minister which was that the project should make the heart happy. “Ek Aisa Rasta Banao Ke Mann Prafullit Ho Jaye,” Patel recalled the PM as telling him during a briefing. “I think the idea was to create a space between the temple and the river, to provide for a processional route as it might have existed in ancient times (when perhaps the river flowed next to the temple),” Patel said. 

PM Modi of course continued to take a keen interest in the shaping up of the corridor after laying the foundation for the works on March 8, 2019. At every stage, the Prime Minister was briefed and his inputs and suggestions were incorporated. For example, when we made a presentation and showed him a 3D model, he gave some ideas about the façade as it would look from the river, wanted the ghat to make a stronger architectural statement, and suggested more disabled-friendly amenities than originally planned, informed Patel. Consequently, the entire climb from the ghat to the temple would have unhindered access by way of ramps and escalators to the disabled, 'divyangs' as the PM calls them. 

Mahatma’s dream 

According to Patel, it was originally Mahatma Gandhi who first thought of clearing the urban jungle around the ancient Kashi Vishwanath temple, the presiding deity of the city of Varanasi more than a century ago in 1916 while on a visit to the temple town. Speaking at the Benares Hindu University after paying a visit to the temple, a clearly appalled father of the nation commented at the gathering that if our temples were going to be in a state like that then he wondered what our nation was going to be like. For those who have visited the temple, over a period of time it had gone hemmed in by urban development from all sides, and the congested area has become a tourist’s nightmare to negotiate. 

Massive complex, tremendous amenities 

The corridor would now provide a replica of ancient settings with pilgrims able to take a bath at the river and then take the steps and escalators to the temple without let or hindrance. In a major boost to the carrying capacity of the area, the project has created an entirely new public space after clearing encroachments, acquiring, and then removing civilian properties, and rehabilitating squatters elsewhere. Earlier, devotees would need to go through the narrow bylanes and reach the temple which had all of 3,000 square feet of space inside. Now the temple complex has grown to 5,00,000 square feet (5 hectares or 50,000 square meters) making it bigger by over 200 times! “This is the kind of space that can now regulate pilgrim flow of up to 50,000-75,000 at a time against a few hundred earlier,” informed Varanasi Municipal Commissioner Deepak Agarwal. As a result of this long queues and inordinate waiting would become a thing of the past at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. An online crowd management system is also being worked upon. 

The entire complex would now house 23 structures full of modern amenities like a tourist information centre, a small guest house, a food court, multipurpose halls to carry religious ceremonies, security arrangements, locker rooms, rest areas and restrooms to make a visit to the temple a wholesome spiritual experience. Access to the Kashi Vishwanath temple can now be head from three points. “Now, apart from the Godolia and Saraswati dwar entries, devotees can also come via the riverfront using a newly created jetty to dock the boats. The entire complex would be secured with three-ring security provided by the civilian police, provincial armed constabulary, and the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) with 300 CCTV cameras and baggage scanners for additional surveillance,” Agarwal informed. 

Architecture 

As one alights from the boat, a pyramid of steps would lead to the gateway which has been inspired by the Ramnagar fort gate in Varanasi. The gateway then leads to the main temple square from where the Shikhar of the original temple then becomes gradually visible as one walks. While the entire complex would continue to have an ornate ancient feel having used all stone material, the buildings are modern and functional to keep visitor comfort in mind. Using Mirzapur (Chunar) stone for the main complex, and granite for the steps towards the ghat, an attempt has been made to make sure that the architecture does not stand out and blends with the ancient ethos of the town itself, Patel explained. No structural change has been made in the original temple and its surroundings. Except for cleaning the Shikhar to make it look better, everything has been worked around in a manner to not disturb any existing religious structure in any manner. To the extent that Varanasi administration revised the city master plan to incorporate all religious structures that came out during excavation and clearing of the urban jungle. 

Litigation free temple corridor 

As impossible as it seemed in the beginning with every inch covered by some structure or the other between the temple and the river, the entire project has been completed with no litigation pending in any court of law, and compensations sorted between the administration and the civilian parties involved without rancour. There was a controversy in the early days of the project about enforced removals of encroachments and squatters, but none exists anymore. All this was possible due to innovative concepts introduced as we went along, informed Agarwal. 

The government created a Kashi Vishwanath Development Board to execute the project. To take over the public spaces the Uttar Pradesh government facilitated creating a registry office at the site to negotiate directly with parties involved and sign sale deeds then and there. “We decided to not opt for the land acquisition route as it leaves some doors open for litigation. We chose individual negotiations with each of the owners. It was easier said than done. Many properties had multiple owners, some even living abroad. In one instance, a property had 17 owners! It was a herculean task,” said Agarwal. 

There were three types of properties informed sources: privately owned, trust-owned, and sevait (custodian) properties with abstract ownership as it happens in the case of temples where the property is owned by a caretaker in the name of the god. In most cases, while getting owners on board was easy, the biggest hurdle was getting the properties vacated by actual possessors, squatters, encroachers, and renters. Even those had to be paid separately by way of rehabilitation grants to get possession and control of the land. “A broad price band was created and matched with parameters like circle rate, socio-economic relevance, area of the property among other factors,” informed Agarwal. 

Giving an example of how accommodative the Board was in compensating those displaced, Agarwal informed that in many instances even documents were not asked for, and actual possession was taken as proof of occupation. Then, in the case of about 40 families making a livelihood around the Manikarnika ghat, instead of their actual area of possession, their socio-economic cost of displacement was taken into account. 

In all 314 properties were purchased by paying Rs 390 crores to owners and those occupying them, including 37 properties that were with custodians in the name of various gods. A total of 1,400 settlers, encroachers, squatters, vendors, and shopkeepers have been rehabilitated elsewhere at a cost of about Rs 70 crores (included in Rs 390 crores). It speaks something of our commitment and intent that as of today there is not single litigation pending in any court of law,” informed sources. The project’s construction itself cost only Rs 336 crores, with another Rs 65 crores to go for the ramp and the ghat in phase-2, the total adding up to Rs 800 crores including compensation. 

Heritage preserved

Many of the buildings acquired in the process had big and small temples inside them. The project had to be tweaked to incorporate all these temples so that sensitivities were not hurt. Patel’s firm hired special conservation architects to get the temples adjusted within the plan. “We went to the extent of changing location, shape and size of structures like the guest house and the Vedic centre inside the complex just so that all the temples and gods recovered during clearing and excavation got incorporated,” informed Patel. There were 27 deities that were recovered during excavation but no structures over them. Even those have been restored to their former glory.

Image: PTI

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Published December 1st, 2021 at 20:13 IST

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