NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the ambitious Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in the heart of Varanasi on Monday, a mega project that is expected to boost tourism in the ancient city in a big way.
The inauguration of the state-of-the-art infrastructure surrounding the historic Kashi Vishwanath Temple near the iconic Dashashwamedh Ghat comes ahead of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh early next year.

Here are 10 key facts about the project …
– With a paved 75-metre wide corridor, the ambitious project worth more than Rs 900 crore connects Kashi Vishwanath Temple and river Ganga.
– As many as 23 buildings, constructed at a cost of around Rs 339 crore, will also be inaugurated.
– The buildings will provide a variety of facilities to the pilgrims visiting the temple, including yatri suvidha kendras, tourist facilitation centre, vedic kendra, Mumukshu bhavan, bhogshala, city museum, viewing gallery, food court, among others.
– The mega corridor, whose foundation stone was laid by PM Modi in 2019, connects the main temple with Lalita Ghat. Grand gateways and ornamental arches have been built in heritage architecture style in four directions, facing the ancient temple at its core.

– The project involved the purchase and acquisition of more than 300 properties around the temple. Nearly 1,400 shopkeepers, tenants and homeowners were rehabilitated amicably to pave way for the construction. Around Rs 450 crore was spent on the purchase of buildings.
– During demolition of buildings to pave way for the project in 2018, over 40 ancient temples were found buried under the layers of concrete and plaster. They are now being conserved and have been made part of the project.

– The project is now spread over a massive area of about five lakh square feet while the earlier premises was limited to just around 3,000 square feet.
– Coincidence or not, PM Modi will dedicate the newly developed Kashi Vishwanath Dham to the people on December 13 — a ‘Somvar’ (Monday) and considered as the favourite day of Lord Shiva.

– Bimal Patel, who is also in charge of the Central Vista redevelopment project in New Delhi, is the architect of the project. He said that without tampering with the original structure of the temple, beautification work was carried out and world-class facilities had been put in place.
– About 70 per cent of the 5.50 lakh sq ft area of the project have been kept for green cover.
More about the grand inauguration
Top spiritual gurus like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Awadheshanand Giri, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and Swami Rambhadracharya along with Tamil Nadu’s Adheenams, Karnataka’s Lingayat and Veerashaiva sects will join Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he opens the corridor project at a grand function amid chanting of Vedic mantras in Varanasi on December 13.

The city, the parliamentary constituency of PM Modi since 2014, has been decorated ahead of the mega event — ‘Divya Kashi, Bhavya Kashi’ — and the residents of the temple town eagerly await the arrival of the prime minister.
Facades of buildings located on streets leading to the shrine have been painted in uniform light pink colour, and many buildings have been illuminated.
Many hotels located near Godowlia Chowk have also been lit been lit up by their owners to celebrate the occasion.

Overall, more than 3,000 religious, spiritual authorities and other dignitaries will witness the KVD opening by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the grand Mandir Chowk.
After the inauguration, PM Modi will hold an informal meeting with several chief ministers on a river cruise and witness Ganga ‘aarti’ and grand festivities being hosted at Varanasi ghats.