PM Modi inaugurates Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi
Varanasi(PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the first phase of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham here, a project which is spread over five lakh square feet and connects the temple premises to the River Ganga besides providing several facilities to devotees.
After arriving in the holy city, also his parliamentary constituency, Modi paid obeisance at the Kaal Bhairav Temple and then took dip in Ganga from where he collected holy water for worship at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
People chanted hymns as the prime minister's carcade rolled through the city. Modi also stopped at some places to accept felicitation.
Before the inauguration, Modi attended a prayer ceremony and later showered workers involved in building the project with flower petals in a gesture to acknowledge their work. He also sat with them for a group photograph.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP President J P Nadda and a large number of saints from across the country attended the ceremony.
The earlier Kashi Vishwanath premises was limited to just 3000 square feet. Now 23 new buildings have been constructed that will provide diverse facilities to the pilgrims and devotees.
The inauguration of the state-of-the-art infrastructure, built at the cost of Rs 339 crore, surrounding the historic Kashi Vishwanath Temple near the iconic Dashashwamedh Ghat comes ahead of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh early next year.
The gateways and other structures have been built with stones and other material using traditional craftsmanship.
The PMO had earlier said that it was Modi's vision for a long time to facilitate pilgrims and devotees of Lord Shiva as they had to encounter congested streets and surroundings with poor upkeep while they went about the age-old custom of taking dip in the holy river, collecting its water and offering it at the temple.
"To realise this vision, Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham was conceptualised as a project to create an easily accessible pathway to connect Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple to the banks of the River Ganga," it said.
The prime minister took a keen and active interest in all stages of the project.
Regular briefings, reviews and monitoring was done by him as he constantly gave inputs and insights to improve the project and make it more accessible for pilgrims, including the disabled, it added.
The new buildings will provide a variety of facilities to pilgrims, including 'yatri suvidha kendras', tourist facilitation centre, vedic kendra, mumukshu bhavan, bhogshala, city museum, viewing gallery, food court among others.
The project involved purchase and acquisition of more than 300 properties around the temple.
Modi's vision to take everyone along was the principle based on which mutual negotiations were done for these acquisitions, the PMO said, noting that around 1,400 shopkeepers, tenants and homeowners were rehabilitated amicably.
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Wedding card helps police crack robbery case; victim's brother among 4 held
Palghar (PTI): A marriage invitation card has helped police in solving a case of robbery in Maharashtra's Palghar district, with the victim's brother found to be involved in the crime, an official said on Thursday.
The incident took place on March 28 near Vavar village in Jawhar, he said.
The victim, Boru Khandu Binnar (30), resident of Khodala in Mokhada taluka here, was travelling in a pickup van when three unidentified persons flagged him down under the pretext that their motorbike had broken down, District Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil said.
Believing their plea for help, the man asked his van driver to halt to assist them.
The robbers then threw chilli powder into the eyes of the man and the van driver and took away Rs 6,85,500 in cash kept behind the driver's seat. They also threatened the man with dire consequences before fleeing, the official said.
The Jawhar police subsequently registered a case against the then unidentified culprits under sections 309(4) (robbery) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
During the investigation at the crime scene, the police found traces of chilli powder, and an usual piece of evidence - a marriage invitation card in which the chilli powder was wrapped, the official said.
The police tracked down a person whose name was mentioned on the invitation, and found him to be involved in the robbery. Later, three other culprits were also nabbed, he said, adding the four were taken into custody over the last couple of days.
According to the official, out of the four persons arrested, Dattu Khandu Binnar (34), the victim's brother, allegedly planned the robbery.
The other three arrested persons have been identified as Kiran Ananta Lamte (23), resident of Mokhada, whose name was on the marriage invitation card, Parmeshwar Kamlakar Zole (24) and Dada Bajirao Pehre (24), both from Nashik, he said.
The police recovered the entire stolen cash from the arrested persons, the official said.
