Budget for phase 2 of Krishna circuit to get nod soon: Centre

Tribune News Service
Kurukshetra, December 7

Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel today said that the projects under the first phase of Krishna circuit are almost complete.

Under the second phase, 12 religious sites in six districts (Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Nuh, Karnal and Panipat) will be developed for a budget of Rs 100 crore.

The minister, during his visit to Kurukshetra on Saturday, held a meeting with the officials of the district administration and Kurukshetra Development Board.

He also visited various sites where the work under phase-1 had been done. Additional Chief Secretary Tourism Vijay Vardhan, Chairman of Haryana Tourism Corporation Randhir Golan, MP Nayab Saini, local MLA Subhash Sudha and Honorary Secretary KDB Madan Mohan Chhabra also accompanied the Union Minister. Prahlad visited Jyotisar Tirtha, Sheikh Chilli’s Tomb, Panorama, Sri Krishna Museum and Brahma Sarovar.

He directed the officials to make separate entries for Sheikh Chilli’s tomb and Harshvardhan’s Tila.

The KDB had sought a budget of Rs 97.06 crore under the Swadesh Darshan scheme from the Centre for the development of religious sites in the state.

The KDB had submitted a list of religious sites, including Amin, Pehowa, Jyotisar, Ashta Koshi Parikrama in Kurukshetra, Vyas Sthali in Karnal, Phalgu Tirtha in Kaithal, Ramrai Tirtha, Som Tirtha-Pindora and Sarpadaman Tirath, Safidon in Jind, Pandav Mandir in Nuh and Tarntauk Yaksha, Seenk in Panipat.

The list was submitted to the Ministry of Tourism for approval. The minister said that a team from the Centre would visit these sites soon and the budget for the second phase would be released soon.

In 2016, the Centre had allocated Rs 97.34 crore to Kurukshetra to develop Krishna circuit under the Swadesh Darshan scheme.

The budget was spent on development work at Jyotisar, Sannihit Sarovar, Brahma Sarovar, Narkatari, and in Thanesar city. After getting the details of the work done in phase-1, the minister directed the officials to complete the pending work at the earliest.

As per the information available, the KDB has planned to give a facelift to Saraswati Tirtha in Pehowa as lakhs of people go there every year for ‘pind daan’ of their ancestors.

Amin village, the place where Abhimanyu was killed during the Mahabharata war, will get a chakravyuha formation on the ground and a park will also be developed there.

The development work will be carried out on an 8-acre land in Amin village. The condition of the ghats will be improved and the focus will be on improving basic facilities at other religious sites.