Varanasi: Grand celebrations will mark the first anniversary of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham (KVD) in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi which was opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 13 last year.
An elaborate ‘Rudrabhishek’ and havan will be held followed by a seminar and cultural programmes later in the day.
The entire premises of Kashi Vishwanath Dham will reverberate with Vedic hymns during the day while in the evening, the complex will echo with the devotional music of bhajans.
The chief executive officer of the temple, Sunil Verma said that famous singer Anuradha Paudwal will present bhajans at the Mandir Chowk in the evening. The sadhus and the dignitaries of Kashi will attend the celebrations.
A manifold rise in the numbers of devotees and earnings were recorded in the last one year after the opening of KVD.
According to the CEO, about 7.35 crore devotees visited the KVD to offer prayers at the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple in the last one year against the previous records of 30-40 lakh devotees.
“In terms of earning, the temple recorded a 500 per cent rise by receiving a donation of Rs 100 crore during this period,” he said. Earlier the temple used to receive Rs 14-15 lakh as donations.
The temple premises, once spread in an area of only 3,000 square feet, has taken a grand shape in a vast area of about 5 lakh square feet after the development. The Kashi Vishwanath Dham corridor was a dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
One of the aims of the corridor was to facilitate pilgrims’ entry to the temple which, until now, was punctuated by clogged streets and untidy passage from the Ganga ghats to the temple.
The Prime Minister played a proactive role in the execution of the project and he personally monitored the progress of the project even during the pandemic through video conferencing.
–IANS