PM in Varanasi: Projects Worth Rs 13,000 Cr to Be Unveiled; Ravidas Temple Visit, Banas Dairy Plant Launch on Agenda – News18

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived on his 43rd trip to Varanasi in the past 10 years, during which he will showcase his development record in his parliamentary constituency ahead of seeking a third term as MP of Kashi.

Projects worth Rs 13,000 crore will be unveiled by the PM, a few days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was in Varanasi as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and visited the Kashi Vishwanath Temple for the first time. His subsequent comment that he saw inebriated youths lying on the road in Varanasi could come under attack from the Prime Minister during the visit. Modi will be holding two public meetings on February 23 in Varanasi.

The PM has been in Varanasi almost every three months since becoming its MP in 2014, and his showpiece projects remain the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project worth Rs 900 crore, the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital, the Ring Road Project, and the upcoming ropeway project till Dasaswamedh Ghat, which will be ready by 2025. Over 13 crore pilgrims have visited the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor since its opening in 2022, in a big rise in devotee numbers.

Ravidas Temple Visit

There will be two highlights of the PM’s present trip to Varanasi. One will be his visit to the Sant Ravidas Janam Sthan Temple in Varanasi, a day ahead of the 647th birth anniversary of Sant Guru Ravidas. Modi was the first PM to come here in 2016, and again in 2019 before the Lok Sabha elections when he laid the foundation stone of a statue of Sant Ravidas. The Prime Minister will unveil the statue on February 23 and lay the foundation stone of a museum.

BJP’s Punjab leader and former Scheduled Caste Commission chief Vijay Sampla is in Varanasi to oversee the PM’s trip to the temple and said it was a good omen as Modi had seen big wins in UP in 2017 and 2019 after his visits to the Sant Ravidas Temple. “This temple has great reverence in north India and thousands of pilgrims are already here for the 647th birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas. The PM has made a big gesture by coming here again,” Sampla told News18.

The PM is expected to reiterate the message of Guru Ravidas that there should be no discrimination on the basis of caste as it does not bring social harmony. There have been promises made by the opposition of a caste census and Rahul Gandhi has been raising the OBC issue.

Banas Kashi Sankul Launch

The other highlight of the PM’s visit will be the inauguration of the Banas Kashi Sankul, a big milk processing plant of the Banaskantha District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd. The foundation stone of this project worth Rs 622 crore was laid by the Prime Minister in 2021 and it is spread over 30 acres with a milk processing capacity of 10 lakh litres daily. The Banas Dairy will prove to be a boon for farmers of Varanasi and the entire eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Amul will be opening milk collection centres in each village in Purvanchal, which will be processed at this plant and is expected to involve nearly one lakh people in the dairy sector. The PM will also meet 50 women dairy farmers who are at the forefront of the exercise already. The plant will see production of milk products like ice cream, ghee, and the famous Lal Peda of Varanasi.

Banas Dairy plants are already running in Lucknow and Kanpur. Banas Dairy paid more than Rs 1,000 crore to the farmers of more than 4,000 villages of UP in a year. Further, dividends and bonuses were also credited to farmers.