Vindhyavasini Temple Corridor: This Shakti Peetha In Eastern UP Is Set To Get The Facelift It Urgently Needed

Union Minister Amit Shah, on Sunday, during his one-day tour of Uttar Pradesh, visited Mirzapur in eastern UP. While there, the Home Minister and CM Yogi Adityanath laid the foundation stone of the 'Vindhyachal Corridor' and inaugurated the 'Ashtabhuja-Kali Khoh Ropeway' — eastern UP's first cable car service.

The Vindhyachal Corridor, dubbed as the "dream project" of CM Adityanath, is a project worth over Rs 300 crore, under which various facilities such as parking zones, guest houses, shopping complexes, restrooms etc. are to be constructed around the Vindhyavasini Temple.

A 50-feet wide corridor around the temple is one the highlights of the project — which is depicted in the model images of the Vindhyachal Corridor project, and upgraded and uplifted versions of the temple premises and its surroundings.

The project is to be executed through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. The corridor will offer pilgrims a grander view of the shrine and an enhanced view of the river Ganga, which flows alongside the temple, to its north.

All the lanes and roads leading to the sacred site will be widened in order to make them more accessible to the pilgrims.

On the other hand, the first 'Ashtabhuja-Kali Khoh' ropeway in the Vindhya hills will help visitors cherish the affluence of the temple and the river Ganga from a height of 260 feet.

According to the Station Manager Sanjay Singh, the cable car can carry six persons at once for a very reasonable fare of ₹40 and ₹50 per head for a round trip to Kalikhoh and Ashtabhuja temples respectively.

The Vindhyavasini temple, and the Ashtabhuja and Kali Khoh temples form a trikona (triangle) of shrines which many devotees visit in a single trip.

The Kali Khoh temple priest, Nanhe Tiwari, said that the ropeway will make the 'darshan' relatively easier, especially for children and the old, who earlier had no choice but to climb 127 steps to reach the temple.

The Vindhyavasini temple is one of the most revered 'shakti peethas' in the country. The temple hosts big congregations during Navratri in Chaitra (April) and Ashwin (October) months.

As per a Dainik Jagran report, around 15000 devotees visit the shrine on normal days, and a whopping Rs. 5 lakh come in every day during Navratri.

Given the huge importance of the site from a 'dharmic' and 'tourism' point of view, the 'Vindhyachal Corridor' and Ashtabhuja-Kalikhoh Ropeway' will make lives easier for devotees visiting the shrines and also help in the overall socio-economic development of Purvanchal.

With the UP 2022 Assembly elections approaching soon, the 'Vindhyachal Corridor' is an important project for the Purvanchal region.

On a similar note, Amit Shah, during his visit, asserted that the BJP was on a "mission mode" in Uttar Pradesh, and was not willing to cede any space to the Opposition parties on any front.