BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that Ujjain city, which houses the famous Mahakaleshwar temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, will be decorated on the occasion of Maha Shivratri festival next year.
Maha Shivratri will be celebrated on March 1 next year.
"Ujjain is an amazing city. The city of Mahakal will be decorated before next Maha Shivratri and everyone will celebrate the festival with joy," Chouhan said on Friday while honouring Hindu saints and seers in Ujjain, a government statement quoted him as saying.
He was in Ujjain on Friday as a part of the BJP's nationwide celebrations coinciding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Kedarnath visit.
While watching on television the PM offering prayers at Kedarnath, Chouhan paid obeisance to the deity at the Mahakaleshwar temple.
Later, Chouhan inspected the ongoing development works in and around Mahakaleshwar temple.
Projects worth Rs 730 crore are being implemented at the Mahakaleshwar temple, out of which works worth Rs 368 crore are currently underway, Chouhan said, adding, "The officials are directed to complete the ongoing works before the next Maha Shivratri festival."
The chief minister said that stories, traditions and beliefs related to Indian culture and Mahakaleshwar would be inscribed in the entire temple complex.
He said that 108 pillars are being built on the path leading from Triveni Museum to Mahakaleshwar temple and stories related to religious traditions and history will be inscribed on each pillar.
On the occasion of Diwali this year, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh turned Ayodhya into a city of lights as 12 lakh diyas (earthen lamps) were lit there.
Of the 12 lakh diyas, nine lakh were lit along the banks of the Saryu river.