KASHI MAKES A SPLASH

In the past nine years, PM Modi has lavished close to Rs 18,000 crore on some 1,250 projects in his Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi. The holy city's landscape has changed for ever

- Ashish Misra

Retired bank manager Vimal Rastogi, 70, and his wife always had a place they would go to celebrate special occasions—the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi. Around 15 years ago, though, the visits stopped. Reema got arthritis, and it became impossible for her to use the steep steps on the river’s ghats. But earlier this year, friends and family organised a surprise birthday celebration for her at the spanking new Namo Namah Ghat. Sitting in her wheelchair, Reema performed her beloved Ganga aarti and sought the blessings of the holy river. For people like Reema, the ghat (formerly known as Khidkiya Ghat) has become a boon. It also offers the first glimpse of Kashi if you are coming into Varanasi by train from Mughalsarai (now renamed Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar).

According to government sources, the Namo Namah Ghat is only one of 1,243 new projects commissioned in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency in the past nine years at a cost of Rs 17, 823 crore. While some have been completed, many others are in progress. The PM is expected to visit the city on September 23 (his 42nd trip to the holy city since May 2014 when he first won from here) and will be laying the foundation stone for Purvanchal’s first international cricket stadium, to be built in the Ganjari area. He may also inaugurate the new 5.3 km-long Phulwaria four-lane highway connecting the Babatpur airport to the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campus here. 

Currently, projects worth Rs 11,842 crore are under way (see A Few Big