2 weeks Ago By Rajiv Mani
Prayagraj: During the eight-year tenure of the Yogi govt, the city of temples, Prayagraj, has got a new identity on the tourism map, in which the corridor of temples built here before Maha Kumbh played an important role. The development of five major tourism corridors and corridors of temples here during the Maha Kumbh established Prayagraj on the international map of tourism. These include the Prayag-Vindhyachal-Kashi corridor, Prayagraj-Ayodhya-Gorakhpur corridor, Prayagraj-Lucknow-Naimisharanya corridor, Prayagraj-Rajapur-Chitrakoot corridor and Prayagraj-Mathura-Vrindavan-Shuktirth corridor.
Along with this, the Hanuman temple corridor near Sangam, Akshayvat temple Saraswati well corridor and Bhardwaj Ashram corridor are prominent among them. The Yogi govt worked towards the rejuvenation of Vedic period temples, including Dwadash Madhav. According to regional tourism officer, Prayagraj, the basic infrastructure was developed and beautified in city's Vedic identity Dwadash Madhav temples at a cost of Rs 12.
34 crores. In the same sequence, 11 ancient temples inside and outside the city were renovated at a cost of Rs19.01 crores.
Shringaverpur Dham was developed as a new destination for religious and rural tourism as well. This site, neglected since the last decade, was made the new rural tourism destination of Prayagraj. A grand Nishadraj tourism park related to Nishadraj and Lord Ram is also a major achievement of the govt.
A budget of Rs 19.63 crores was spent in its first phase and Rs 18.19 crores in the second phase.
The decision taken by the Yogi govt in Maha Kumbh to provide skill training to its service providers to ensure the participation of all sections of society in tourism led to the creation of world-class services for tourism. Senior manager of Uttar Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation, DP Singh, said that on the instructions of the govt, more than 4,000 tourist guides, taxi drivers, e-rickshaw drivers, street vendors and boatmen were given special training to increase their income. For Maha Kumbh, many such projects were started by the tourism department.
The Yogi govt's decision to continue these projects till the next Ardh Kumbh, even after the conclusion of Maha Kumbh, has given momentum to tourism. "In Prayagraj, the reach of tourists, which was 2% before 2017, has increased to 10% as of now," said Singh..
