Over five lakh devotees visited the Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi on New Year’s Day. This came weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of the newly-constructed Kashi Vishwanath Dham. The local administration in Varanasi had not expected such an unprecedented number of devotees. At best, they were expecting not more than a lakh visitors for the day, sources says. Even on Mahashivratri, the peak time for Kashi Vishwanath, the number of devotees never exceeded 2.5 lakh.
Such a huge number of people turning up at the temple on a non-festival day proves the immense enthusiasm to visit the new avatar of Kashi Vishwanath Dham. The local administration has requested the devotees, especially VIPs, to stagger their visit to Kashi Vishwanath Dham to ensure proper crowd management.
Earlier on 13 December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated phase 1 of the newly-constructed Kashi Vishwanath Dham. The foundation stone of the project was laid by the Prime Minister on 8 March 2019. A total of 23 buildings were inaugurated in phase 1 of the project. They are providing a variety of facilities to the pilgrims visiting Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple, including Yatri Suvidha Kendras, Tourist Facilitation Centres, Vedic Kendra, Mumukshu Bhavan, Bhogshala, City Museum, Viewing Gallery, Food Court, among others.