A Ram temple in Ayodhya may take some time to come up, but the Uttar Pradesh government is already moving ahead on a massive project to prepare and promote Ayodhya as a major tourist attraction with ambitious schemes on several levels.
According to well-placed sources in the government, a plan to set up a town by the name of Ikshvakupuri – drawn from the name of the legendary dynasty of Hindu kings in the Indian heartland – on the banks of the Saryu river in Ayodhya has been prepared. The project has been in making over the last one more than year, and is said to be in the final stages before it is unveiled. It includes the creation of a greenfield city which will showcase all aspects of Hindu religion and culture. Spread over 1,900 acres, the proposed city will extend from the outskirts of the existing Ayodhya town towards the Saryu river. At present this land is largely uninhabited with some ponds, forests and streams, and is said to be under the ownership of various Government departments such as agriculture, forest and horticulture.
The inspiration behind the proposed city is drawn from the famed temples in Angkor Vat, the world’s largest monument near the town of Siem Reap in Cambodia. It will have a riverfront comprising hotels, inns and parks along the Saryu river, and the main complex will have separate sections dedicated to the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, other Hindu religious texts, besides cottages and huts designed on the pattern of traditional ashrams. All states of India will be given land in this city where they could set up guest houses and depictions of their tourist attractions. Setting up of a Vedic research centre, meditation centre, multimedia presentation etc are also planned.
The entire city will be totally eco-friendly, with permanent built-up space not exceeding 5 per cent of the total land. Vehicles running on petrol, diesel and CNG will not be permitted within the city, and only electric vehicles such as carts, buses and tram will ply. The entire project is proposed to be executed in a collaborative manner, with the state government setting the plan, standards and design, basic infrastructure and prepare detailed plan of other features and elements. The elements would be owned and operated by other parties either on a model of public-private partnership (PPP) or retail crowdfunding, inviting funds from individuals and organisations.
“The idea is to create a unique spiritual and tourist attraction which provides an immersive experience of Indian culture, spiritualism and religious glory. There will be a unique blend of traditional and modern, with latest technology being used to recreate an ambience of serenity and faith,” according to a source close to the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In fact the chief minister has been taking keen interest in developing Ayodhya ever since he took over in March 2017. Since then, he has visited Ayodhya more than a dozen times in this regard. The celebration of Dussehra and Diwali on a grand scale in Ayodhya in the last two years, including the Deepotsav (lighting of earthen lamps on the bank of the Saryu river) have been part of the plan to project Ayodhya as the biggest tourist attraction in the state.
In fact, the tourist footfalls in Ayodhya have registered a rise in the last one year, and there has been a considerable increase in the number of visitors after the court verdict on the Ram temple issue. Interestingly, Agra, Sarnath and Varanasi continue to be the main tourist attractions in the state, in that order, and these three places draw a large number of foreign tourists that come to India. Ayodhya, according to one estimate, gets about 1.50 crore tourists every year, mostly domestic and largely pilgrims. “With the proposed project, it is planned to position Ayodhya as the most important religious centre for the Hindu community, on the lines of the Vatican and Mecca,” the source said.
The Ikshvakupuri project, incidentally, is separate from the proposed Smart City plan in which Ayodhya has been included, and work on that front is already on. Smart city includes setting up of an integrated, networked city, an airport, hotels, heritage park and other institutions.
Ayodhya lies about 130 km northeast of Lucknow, on way to Gorakhpur, the home town of the chief minister. It is a pilgrimage centre for Hindus and Muslims as also for Jains and Buddhists, and ancient monuments of all these faiths are scattered all over the city. The district was earlier known as Faizabad and was renamed as Ayodhya on 6 November 2018. The administrative headquarters of the district were later shifted to Ayodhya city.
The Supreme Court had on November 9 announced its verdict on the disputed ownership of the land where the Babri Masjid once stood. The Court ruled that the land be handed over for the construction of a Ram temple through a trust under the central government, and ordered allotment of 5 acres of land for the construction of a mosque to the Muslim groups that were party to the case. The filing of a review petition against the Court ruling is being actively considered by most of the petitioners on the other side.
