Centre\, Uttar Pradesh plan to develop city as a big tourist centre

New Delhi: Expecting nearly 100,000 pilgrims a day at the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi temple once it is ready by the end of 2023 or 2024, the Uttar Pradesh government and the Centre are working on a plan to develop Ayodhya as a big centre of tourist, economic and religious activity. PM Modi said at the ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday that the temple will not only increase the grandeur of Ayodhya but also “change the economy” of the region. “There will be new opportunities in this region. People will come here from the whole world for paying obeisance to Lord Ram and Mata Sita. So much will change here,” he said.

Officials said the mega plan will take shape simultaneously with the construction of the temple and will include an international Sri Ram Airport in Ayodhya, a modern railway station taking shape by next year, new religious tourism attractions like the world’s tallest statue of Lord Ram and development of the entire 84-mile perimeter area around the city as a religious destination. Several multi-level parkings, a network of widened highways and a two-km long elevated road leading to Ram janmabhoomi, underground cabling and deployment of electric vehicles to ferry people are on the anvil.

Ashish Sompura, son of the temple’s original designer Chandrakant B Sompura, told ET: “The first priority is the completion of the temple and the corridor till the temple. The plan for that is ready. We are the architects and Larsen & Toubro will construct the temple. We are expecting about 80,000 to one lakh pilgrims daily once the temple is ready.”