The work on religious circuits has picked up momentum with the Ministries of Roads, Highways and Transport, and Tourism jointly preparing a Cabinet note for building about 7000-8000 kilometres of road network for religious connectivity across the country. They will be sending it for Cabinet approval next week.
“We have prepared a note for blanket approval from the Cabinet for the various religious circuits, which we plan to develop over the next five years,” said an official in the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
“We have started the process of identifying the locations across various States which can be connected. We need a sanction from the Cabinet as this project will entail a lot of expenditure and hence the required sanctions for funds,” he said.The Government is positive that this will give tourism a definite boost by at least 15 per cent annually.
The Government plans to develop Buddha circuit, Rama and Krishna circuits besides Jain, and Muslim circuits in due course of time.“We have started the process of identifying locations and mapping places but it will take time,” said the official.In its first phase, the Government plans to develop the Buddha circuit, where it proposes to connect Sarnath-Gaya-Varanasi. The Government also proposes to start work on the Rama and Krishna circuits in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, almost simultaneously.
“While we will build the road infrastructure, the Ministry of Tourism will develop the places with world-class tourist amenities to attract tourists from all over the world,” he said.The complete map of the Buddhist Circuit encompasses lumbini in Nepal, Bodh Gaya, Vaishali and Rajgir in Bihar and Sarnath, Shravasti and Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh.
“The Ministry of Tourism is almost ready with the broad development plans for both the Rama and Krishna circuits. They have shared the plans with the Ministry of Roads and Transport, which have been incorporated in the Cabinet note,” said the official.“The area for the Krishna Circuit has been assigned 80 per cent of which falls in UP, in the Mathura-Vrindavan belt, and goes all the way up to Dwarkadhish in Gujarat,” said an official from MoRTH.
“The Ministry of Roads will be developing the roads, mostly four-laning them from point to point to improve connectivity,” said the official. The official said that for the Rama Circuit, the ministry of tourism has proposed to connect about 100 villages from Ayodhya, Rama’s birthplace to Janakpur (Nepal), which is believed to be Sita’s birthplace. The route may go through certain districts in northern Bihar.