The newly constructed Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, also known as Kashi Vishwanath Dham, completed one year on Tuesday, December 13. Within a year of the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham corridor connecting the temple with the Ganga river ghats, Varanasi’s iconic temple saw a record-breaking footfall and an almost five-fold increase in donations from devotees.
According to reports, since December 13, 2021, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the ambitious Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Uttar Pradesh, the temple has drawn 7.35 million pilgrims and collected donations totalling Rs 100 crore against the previous records of 30-40 lakh devotees.
As per the temple’s data, 4,842,716 pilgrims reached KV Dham in December 2021 while 7,459,471 visited in January, 6,856,142 in February, 7,171,163 in March, 6,587,264 in April, 6,290,511 in May, 6,916,981 in June, maximum 7,681,561 in July, 6,711,499 in August, 4,013,688 in September, 3,830,643 in October, 3,870,403 in November and 1,350,000 visited in the current month till Monday.
The Kashi Vishwanath Temple (KVT) administrators estimate that if the temple’s earnings continue to see this steady development, the Rs 900 crore invested in creating the KV Dham will be recovered in the next four to five years based on the trend of increasing pilgrim foot traffic as well as income.
“A many-fold increase in the numbers of both devotees and earnings has been recorded in a year after the opening of KV Dham,” said Divisional commissioner and chairman of Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham Special Area Development Board Kaushal Raj Sharma.
KVT Chief Executive Officer Sunil Verma provided information about the massive rise in devotee traffic, saying, “On an average 30-40 lakh devotees used to throng the temple every year before the KV Dham had come into existence. Immediately after the opening of KV Dham, a footfall of 7.35 crore devotees has been recorded at this shrine area in the last year alone.”
Kashi Vishwanath Temple gets a golden makeover
It is pertinent to note that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last year, expanded the Kashi Vishwanath Temple area from 2,700 sq ft to 5 lakh sq ft under the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor project worth Rs 900 crores. The BJP-led government established direct connectivity between the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and River Ganga through Jalasen, Manikarnika, and Lalita ghats.
In June 2022, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple got a complete golden makeover as the gold plating of the lower portion of the temple Shikhara and the door frames. According to the reports, 23 kgs of gold was used to decorate the lower portion of the temple Shikhara.
Earlier in March this year, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple was decorated with 37 kgs of gold. The gold was used to decorate the inner walls of the sanctum of the temple. This is after an anonymous donor donated 60 kgs of gold to Kashi Vishwanath Temple out of which 37 kgs of gold was utilized for the purpose on March 1, 2022.