LUCKNOW: The Ram temple can wait. The Yogi Adityanath government has new plans for the holy town of Ayodhya.In order to put the temple town on the global religious tourism map, it’s planning to build a new, or Navya Ayodhya, a modern township with world class facilities between Ayodhya and Faizabad.
The highlight of the proposed new township will be a ‘nirvana abode’ or Mukti Dham — a place to seek and attain moksha (salvation), and an abode for those wanting to end their days in the land of Lord Ram.
After approval from the tourism department, the township project, reportedly prepared by London-based consultancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers, has been forwarded to the state government for its approval.
To be built on a 500-acre area along Faizabad-Gorakhpur national highway, about 10 km from Ayodhya at an estimated cost of `1,200 crore, the ambitious project envisages facilities like five-star hotels, riverside resorts, multi-storey buildings —both commercial and residential —and underground systems for drainage and electric wiring. The work on the township is likely to begin later this year.
The state government’s thrust on wooing foreign tourists to ‘Ram Nagri’ the fact that only 24,000 of 1.7 crore tourists who visited Ayodhya last year were foreigners.“There is immense potential in Ayodhya to attract tourists from across the world for being the birthplace of Lord Ram. It needs to tapped and promoted,” said a senior tourism department official, adding that Navya Ayodhya was an endeavour in that direction.
Ayodhya district magistrate Anil Kumar Pathak, who is also the vice-chairman of Faizabad Development Authority, feels there is a need for a separate township because Ayodhya is too congested and densely populated to be transformed and beautified.According to highly placed sources in the Ayodhya- Faizabad Development Authority (AFDA), the work for land acquisition on the identified site has already begun.
Besides ‘Nirvana abode’, studio apartments will be built along the banks of the river Saryu to facilitate the stay of those who want to leave for their last journey from Ayodhya.“One studio apartment will cost `20-25 lakh. Those who can’t afford it can pay some amount, say `5 lakh, for allotment of an apartment with the agreement that the unit will go back to the authority after the allottee’s death,” said a senior AFDA official.
Ramayana circuit
The Yogi government started efforts to tap Ayodhya’s potential soon after it came to power. A comprehensive plan of 13 development projects was put together and presented to the Centre, which approved it with a budget of D133 crore under the ‘Ramayana Circuit’.