Kailash Mansarovar, a pilgrimage site for Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, will be accessible from Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand by the end of next year, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari told Parliament as he listed several religious tourism projects expected to be ready before the 2024 general elections.
“I don’t want to travel to Kailash Mansarovar via Nepal or China. Indians will be able to reach Mansarovar from Pithoragarh by the end of 2023. We have completed 85% of the work,” Mr. Gadkari told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
He said the 258–km long Ram Van Gaman Marg, which will connect Ayodhya to Chitrakoot and is being built at a cost of ₹5,000 crore, will also be ready by the end of 2023.
The 236–km long Ram–Janaki Marg that will connect Ayodhya to Janakpur in Nepal at a cost of ₹2,000 crore will also be ready next year. In Hindu mythology, Ayodhya is the birthplace of Lord Ram and Janakpur is believed to be the birthplace of Sita .
On an earlier occasion, Minister Gadkari said in Uttar Pradesh that the government will develop tourist circuits connecting all places from where Lord Ram is believed to have passed during his exile from Ayodhya to Rameswaram.
The 84–kos parikrama, which is a National Highway (NH) allowing circumambulation of important places associated with the kingdom of Ram, will be ready by the end of 2023. It is a 235–km long NH being developed at a cost of ₹4,000 crore.
A ring road for Ayodhya, also being developed at a cost of ₹4,000 crore, will be ready before the end of the next year.
The Chardham project covering Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath will be concluded by December 2023 and more than 500 km of the length of 827 km was complete.
A 419–km long Buddhist circuit connecting Gautam Buddha’s birthplace with Bodhgaya, where he attained enlightenment, and Kushinagar, where he breathed his last, was being readied at a cost of ₹20,000 crore.
For the Pandharpur pilgrimage in Maharastra, the government is developing the Palkhi marg at a cost of ₹5,000 crore.
Apart from these tourist projects, important highway projects that will reduce the distance between Delhi and cities like Jaipur, Dehradun and Haridwar by two hours, and four hours for Haridwar and 12-13 hours for Mumbai will also be ready by the end of 2022, the Minister said.
A road journey between Srinagar and Mumbai will also reduce to 20 hours by the end of 2022 as the Srinagar–Jammu highway will connect with Katra–Delhi highway which will further link up with Delhi– Mumbai highway.
