Government projects worth Rs 35,000 crore are ongoing or completed in Ayodhya, according to the principal secretary for Uttar Pradesh Tourism.
The projects include the international airport, expansion of the railway station, widening of roads and development of flyovers, Mukesh Meshram told NDTV Profit in an interview. "We have developed the Panch Koshi Parikrama Marg, Chauda Koshi and Chaurasi Koshi Parikrama Marg because these are some important religious routes."
Meshram claimed that there were about 2 lakh tourist arrivals in Ayodhya from other states in 2021 — a year when there was the second coronavirus wave. "That's already crossed the 2-crore mark in 2023."
From 25,000–30,000 people per day currently, we are expecting more than 2 lakh people per day after the Ram temple consecration, according to Meshram.
The transport department has already deployed a lot of buses for Ayodhya, for instance, the official said. "Further preparations depends on demand."
Meshram pointed out that the government had undertaken a facade treatment of all the shops and houses, and everything was on the principles of Vedic architecture. "Lord Ram is the sun god or a Suryavanshi. So, we are planning to make Ayodhya a solar city," Meshram said.
Plans are also afoot to develop a temple museum, which will actually showcase the philosophy behind the temple making, worship and architecture of temples from different parts of the country and the world, according to Meshram.
The same way, the government buildings, hotels and other structures that are coming up in the city have been requested to be built on Vedic architecture principles, he said.
Here Are The Edited Excerpts
We've often seen that in religious or other tourist spots, public infrastructure and basic amenities to the public are often limited. Can you throw some light on projects specifically aimed to help make their stay more comfortable? What are the arrangements for food and budget accommodation?
Yeah. Basically, we have identified that there are dormitories, dharamshalas, temples and existing religious places. So, we have roped in them also and we are getting their facilities developed to cater for affordable stay. We have developed shelter homes near the bus station as well as the tent city, along with gate complexes on six major roads approaching Ayodhya, for which we have acquired 20–30 acres of land.
Each gate complex will have budget accommodations and luxury accommodations, yoga centres, wellness centres. It will have small healthcare facilities, police station, petrol pumps, toilets, parking and all the tourist amenities.
We motivated people who can spare two rooms to six rooms to start homestay facilities in their houses. More than 1,000 homestays are already set up in Ayodhya. Apart from these, we have also invited people to invest in the hospitality sector. I am glad to tell you that more than 50 investors have already shown their interest, and they've got their hospitality units registered with the tourism department, for which they will get subsidies to set up hotels and guest houses there, supported by the state tourism policy.
Any estimates for the job creation in Ayodhya?
An inbound tourist generates directly or indirectly minimum 6 jobs per day like. Like there are taxi drivers, waiters, farmers, shopkeepers, artisans.... Arrivals of domestic and foreign tourists will certainly aid our economy because people, not only in Ayodhya, but around Ayodhya, will get jobs whether in the organised sector or in self-employment.
Lucknow, Gorakhpur and other neighbouring cities in the state are also likely to benefit from the development of Ayodhya. Those visiting the temple at Varanasi would also like to visit Ayodhya or vice versa.
The Maha Kumbh is being organised in Prayagraj in 2025. In 2019, we had received almost 25 crore pilgrims and that's expected to go to over 40 crore in 2025. The devotees attending the Maha Kumbh will visit Ayodhya too.
The state government is developing around 1,000 temples in the state under different schemes by tourism department. The whole state is now attracting pilgrims from various parts of country and even Indian diaspora are coming to Uttar Pradesh. In the future, we are hoping that more and more people will come.
Are there plans to develop heritage tourism in Lucknow?
Yeah, we are now focusing on Bundelkhand because it has lots of palaces and forts, which are so far neglected. If we develop these places... under adaptive reuse of these heritage buildings, these can be converted into heritage hotels.
We have already started the process. We advertised for leasing some properties on a long-term basis and people or companies have shown interest and submitted bids. We have also started identifying all the neglected heritage properties, which are in shambles or dilapidated conditions.
Then, we have more than 24 bird sanctuaries, tiger sanctuaries and forest reserves for ecotourism, for which we have set up a state ecotourism board. Then, there is agro and rural tourism. People can stay, and experience rural life. For this we have identified more than 200 villages.
What is the government's vision for Ayodhya?
Ayodhya will become a very big centre of tourism. When we started developing the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, people had lot of questions and they were quite skeptical about it. But ultimately within two years, the government recovered what was spent directly or indirectly — employment, GST collection and different other activities.
We are getting 7.5 crore people per annum. In fact, on the Jan. 1, there were 8 lakh visitors in the Kashi Vishwanath temple complex. Just imagine how much footfall we are getting after the development of these faith-based centres.
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