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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If Bumrah is not fit then a score of around 200 also might not be enough: Gavaskar
Sydney, Jan 4: Batting great Sunil Gavaskar feels India will struggle to defend even 200 in case premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah is unable to bowl at full throttle on the third day of the fifth and final Test against Australia here on Sunday.
Bumrah had left the field for scans during the second day's post-lunch session after bowling just one over, having experienced some discomfort. However, he returned to the dressing room after undergoing precautionary scans for an unspecified niggle.
India pacer Prasidh Krishna said his skipper had suffered back spasm.
The medical team was monitoring him as India ended the day 145 runs in front with four second innings wickets left on a SCG track which is aiding the bowlers.
"Look, if India scores 40 more runs or they put 185 on the board then they have a great chance but it all depends on Jasprit Bumrah's fitness. If Jasprit Bumrah is fit then 145-150 might be enough. But if Bumrah is not fit then a score of around 200 also might not be enough," said Gavaskar on Star Sports on Saturday.
Gavaskar also said maintaining secrecy around Bumrah's status is not going to help the Australians, who have so far struggled to counter the threat posed by the Indian pace spearhead.
"One thing that I liked was when he came back after the scan, obviously it took a lot of time because the hospital is a bit far, but he looked in good shape and his body language was such that there was no indication of the Australian team and it is very important to maintain the secrecy.
"Because, tactically you do not want to announce whether Bumrah will be available for bowling or not, and even if he is not available and this news goes across the opposition dressing room because till now Australian batsmen haven't found out a way to counter him, they don’t know whether they should attack, defend, or whether they should play on front-foot.
"So to execute this plan it is important to maintain secrecy, so Bumrah and the Indian team management managed it quite well," Gavaskar said.
The pacer has already taken 32 wickets in the series, and had figures of 2/33 in 10 overs before leaving the field, having removed Marnus Labuschagne in the morning session and Usman Khawaja on the last ball of the first evening.
