Kashi's riverfront to get a facelift

VARANASI: The Varanasi riverfront, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed Ganga pujan and watched Ganga Aarti after winning the Lok Sabha election, will get a facelift.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday set aside Rs 100 crore for Ghat development and beautification of the riverfront at Varanasi, Kedarnath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi in the current financial year.He also proposed to set up an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called (Namami Gange) with a fund of Rs 2,037 crore.
The riverfront of Varanasi is a major attraction that attracts large number of tourists from across the globe. Recently, the UP government had announced a plan to set up three new ghats in the city. Rs 30 crore was earmarked for the same.
However, the majestic ghats of Varanasi are in danger due to the presence of tortoise sanctuary. According to noted river scientist and retired professor from Banaras Hindu University Udai Kant Choudhary, a substantial stretch of ghats in Manikarnika, the great cremation ghat, is under threat of caving-in, and this stretch of ghats may submerge in Ganga by 2020-25 if no corrective measure is taken. The only solution to save the historic ghats on the concave bank of Ganga is to manage sand bed, which is increasing gradually, on the convex bank of the river.
The sand mining is prohibited along the 7km stretch of Ganga in Varanasi due to presence of tortoise sanctuary from the Ramnagar Fort to Rajghat. The tortoise sanctuary came into existence with the inception of Ganga Action Plan launched in 1986.