Divya Varanasi: On Teacher's Day, fresh drive to be launched after PM Modi's constituency fared poorly in sanitation ranking

NEW DELHI: Something considered sacred by many may have to stay off the streets of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi because the government wants to make the holy city clean.

The much venerated cows that are ubiquitous on the temple town’s streets are likely to be shifted safely to cowsheds as part of a drive to lift the cleanliness status of Varanasi, which did miserably in the latest sanitation rankings by the urban development ministry.

Prime Minister Modi’s pet Swachh Bharat Abhiyan seemed to have little effect on his constituency as it ranked as low as 418 in the 476-city ranking. Corrective measures were initiated after Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma, who has been designated as the minister in charge of Varanasi, informed Modi about the cleanliness problem.

Tentatively called ‘ Divya Varanasi’ or ‘ Divya Kashi’, the drive aims to involve local youth and residents to make Varanasi’s roads and ghats clean and keep them so, said senior officials in the tourism ministry. The programme will be launched on the Teacher’s Day.

Sharma confirmed the plan. “We will launch the cleanliness mission on September 5 and will make every effort to ensure Varanasi’s aesthetic and spiritual values are restored,” he told ET. Industry will be roped in under the corporate social responsibility and public-private partnership models to clean the city.

Cows and Pigs to Go Off Streets

State-run Pawan Hans and Air India have already proposed to adopt a Ganga ghat each in the city that welcomes thousands of pilgrims and tourists every day.

On the new agenda are certain key deliverables. All ghats to the Ganga will have railings to facilitate movement of people.rominent and aesthetically pleasing stainless steel dustbins will be installed across the city to instill aculture of waste management. The problem of hanging cables is also learnt to have caught the attention and will be addressed. The main focus will be on ghats, tourist places and temples, the surroundings of which will be kept clean.

A major irritant is said to be cows and pigs roaming around the city. Plans are afoot to set up two new cowsheds for orphaned cows. Stray pigs will also be kept away from the city.

Another concern is the graffiti that currently decorates the walls to the ghats. Fine art students from the town’s institutes will be engaged to ensure that soothing and spiritual artworks are created along the Ganga banks.

A 21-member core team will be set up which will have on board local artists, college students, the vice chancellor of the Banaras Hindu University, representatives of various stakeholders from the city, such as the paanwalas, tourist guides, hotel association and temple priests. This team will coordinate cleanliness efforts that will be spearheaded by teams of college students.

The exercise will be organised largely over weekends so that students can participate. A Facebook page and Twitter handle will be launched on September 5 to allow Varanasi residents to post pictures of areas found dirty so that