Ascetic Chief Yogi Adityanath of India’s northern Uttar Pradesh showered benevolence on the holy cities of Ayodhya and Varanasi in the budget proposals for 2020-2021 presented to the state legislative assembly on Tuesday. He had announced $141 million for development of public facilities in both cities.
Ayodhya is going to be a major Hindu pilgrimage destination after India’s top court settled a bitterly fought land dispute in favour of Hindus, clearing the way for the construction of a temple dedicated to Lord Rama. Yogi approved an airport in Ayodhya at the cost of $70 million. He has also allocated funds for a cultural centre and a facelift for temples in Uttar Pradesh’s holy city of Varanasi, which is also the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the budget proposals presented by state’s Finance Minister Suresh Khanna, an allocation of $12 million has been made towards setting up of a tourist facilitation centre in Ayodhya, as the government expects an influx of pilgrims as soon as the temple is constructed. Allocations have also been made for the construction of a memorial to Saint Tulsidas in Ayodhya, who wrote the epic Ramayana.
India’s Supreme Court had adjudicated a bitterly fought land dispute between Hindus and Muslims in Ayodhya in favour of Hindus in November 2019. The court ordered the transfer of the entire 2.77 acres of land to Hindus and asked the state government to provide alternative land to Muslims in the same city as the latter could not prove the title even though a mosque existed on the disputed territory. The federal government, as per Supreme Court order, has set up a trust for the construction of the temple. India’s Federal Home Minister said in December 2019 that a magnificent and towering temple would be constructed in Ayodhya within four months.
The Yogi government has also allocated $28 million for a facelift of the over one thousand-year-old Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi dedicated to Lord Shiva. Varanasi is the Parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Apart from this, the budget has also set aside $25 million for establishing a cultural centre in Varanasi.
The state has made a slew of allocations for infrastructure and rural sectors. A distribution of $90.7 million has been made for metro projects in the cities of Kanpur and Agra. For rural roads in the state, an allocation of $324.6 million has been made and another $420 million allocated for rural water supplies.
