Yogi commits Rs 900 crore for cultural, religious tourism

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Feb 24, 2021

Furthering the cultural and nationalist agenda of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Uttar Pradesh government has allocated about Rs 900 crore Budget for 2021-22 financial year to promote religious, spiritual and cultural tourism.

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The funds will be utilised towards upgrading tourism infrastructure in key tourist hotspots of Ayodhya, Varanasi, Chitrakoot, Lucknow, Vindhyachal etc.

According to the UP Annual Budget 2021-22, the state will spend Rs 300 crore for constructing an approach road to the Lord Ram temple. An additional Rs 100 crore will e incurred towards different development and beautification works in the temple town.

Similarly, Rs 100 crore will be spent on tourism related expenditure in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency of Varanasi. Under the flagship Mukhyamantri Paryatan Sthal Vikas Yojana, the UP government will invest Rs 200 crore.

An allocation of Rs 20 crore has been made for various tourism schemes in Chitrakoot, besides Rs 30 crore for development works in Vindhyachal region and Naimisharanya.

In view of centenary year celebrations of the famous ‘Chouri-Choura’ incident related to India's freedom movement, a provision of Rs 15 crore has been made for year round celebrations of the Chouri-Choura Shatabadi Mahotsava.

The Budget has allocated Rs 8 crore for the construction of UP Tribal Museum in Lucknow, while Rs 4 crore will be incurred for the development of a freedom fighter gallery in Shahjahanpur district.

Meanwhile, the Yogi Adityanath government has also decided to confer ‘Uttar Pradesh Gaurav Samman’ to eminent writers and artists who had not been decorated by any award in the state. Under this scheme, a maximum of 5 people will be honoured with a sum of Rs 11 lakh each every year.