Yogi Adityanath, after being sworn in as Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister for the second time, visited Ayodhya for the first time on Friday and directed the city’s municipal corporation not to levy commercial and civic body taxes on temples and other holy shrines in the region. He also went through the preparations for the upcoming Ram Navami Mela in the holy city.
Ayodhya | Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath orders Nagar Nigam to stop the levying of tax on mutts, temples, and religious places. Now mutts, temples, and religious places need not pay commercial tax.
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) April 1, 2022
(File photo) pic.twitter.com/73OYUvMkyQ
He prayed at the Hanumangarhi temple and went to the Ram Mandir building site. Later, the chief minister visited the Balrampur region and offered prayers at three temples. He would spend the night at the Devi Patan temple before continuing on to Siddharthnagar on Saturday.
अतुलितबलधामं हेमशैलाभदेहं,
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) April 1, 2022
दनुजवनकृशानुं ज्ञानिनामग्रगण्यम्।
सकलगुणनिधानं वानराणामधीशं,
रघुपतिप्रियभक्तं वातजातं नमामि।
पावन अयोध्या धाम स्थित श्री हनुमानगढ़ी में आज ‘अष्ट सिद्धि नौ निधि के दाता’ श्री हनुमान जी का दर्शन कर सम्पूर्ण सृष्टि के कल्याण की प्रार्थना की। pic.twitter.com/UnKO1KWn5W
Because all of these institutions do charity work and public service, CM Adityanath decided that the municipal corporation not levy monasteries, temples, Dharamshalas, and charitable organisations’ commercial rates for house tax, water tax, and sewer tax.
In addition, the chief minister recommended that the local administration accept only symbolic monetary offerings from the city’s religious shrines. He suggested that the Ayodhya Municipal Corporation prepare a plan for this purpose and get it approved by the state government.
CM Adityanath remarked in his address while assessing the Mela preparations that construction of the Ram Mandir has begun and that millions of pilgrims from all across India would visit Ayodhya every day. Keeping this in mind, he advised creating an appealing setting and adorning Ayodhya in such a way that worshipers find the entire atmosphere full of the Ramayana era.
Following the COVID-19 outbreak, this will be the first Ram Navami Fair in the region. Also after the laying of the foundation stone for the Ram Mandir in August 2020, it will be held for the first time.
The CM was joined by Champat Rai, the general secretary of the Ram Temple Trust, who indicated that roughly 10% to 15% of the foundation work had been finished. “We plan to finish the structure’s foundation-laying work by July,” Rai said to reporters.
