In a recent development in Banke Bihari Corridor PIL, the Allahabad High Court gave approval to the construction of the corridor in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, considering the “convenience of devotees.” The corridor promises to account for 50,000 devotees at a time.
The construction of Banke Bihari Corridor will be a historic project with a total expenditure of Rs 262 crore funded by the UP government.
Here’s what all you need to know about the construction of Banke Bihari Corridor:
Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan is one of the most popular temples in North India, devotees coming from every part of the country and that is the reason behind the construction of the corridor. As per reports, last year, two people were crushed to death in the celebration of Janmashtami in the temple.
For the construction of the corridor, the Allahabad High Court has allotted five acre of land near Yamuna river which includes 325 properties, shops and houses. The state cabinet minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary has said, “The area around the Banke Bihari temple will be developed on the lines of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor in Varanasi.The corridor will be able to accommodate more than 50,000 devotees at a time. Devotees, after taking a dip in the Yamuna, can directly reach the temple via the corridor.”
According to the Ministry of Tourism, religious and spiritual tourism accounts for more than 60% of all tourism in India, with religious tourism destinations earning 1,34,543 crore in 2022, up from 65,070 crore in 2021. As a result, the Banke Bihari Temple Corridor would not only ease the exercise of darshan but also bring in more pilgrims giving a fillip to the economy of this otherwise dull town whose major and only business is ‘temple’.
However, this is not the first corridor proposed by the government. The BJP government at the national level, as well as in states such as Uttar Pradesh and MP, has prioritized the construction of temple corridors around the country. The Mahakal Corridor was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi in May 2019 at the Shri Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. Thousands of worshipers attend the Lord Shiva temple every day, while lakhs visit on significant occasions.