Mahakal Lok corridor ramps up Ujjain economy

Ujjain: With the opening of the newly constructed Mahakal Lok corridor in Ujjain of Madhya Pradesh, the business of the city including temple-related employment has increased by one and a half-fold. Besides, the devotees’ footfall has quadrupled.

According to Mahakaleshwar Temple Management Committee (MTMC), the footfall of domestic and abroad devotees has quadrupled after the inauguration of the corridor. The visit of the Mahakal’s adorers reaches eight-fold at the weekend.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the first phase of the redeveloped Mahakal Lok corridor project on October 11, last year. The Mahakal temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga sites in the country. Mahakal Jyotirling has specific significance among them because of the south-face direction while others are east-faced.

The Mahakaleshwar temple is located in the holy city of Ujjain. In line with the Vishwanath Kashi corridor of Uttar Pradesh, the Mahakal temple premises is being redeveloped by the state government as a unique corridor under the temple’s expansion project costing Rs 856 crore. The project is the flagship programme of MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and he has specially been taking care since its laying foundation stone ceremony. The first phase inaugurated by PM Modi is opened to devotees and tourists.

Devendra Pawar, a shopkeeper who runs a stall of puja items outside the temple premises tells Millennium Post, “Since after the inauguration of the corridor, a sudden jump is witnessed in the footfall of the devotees. My business has increased around twice as before”.

After throwing open the corridor, a rise in the business of the holy city as well as its surrounding tourist and religious sites has been seen, the local people who are involved in various trades like taxi and public transport, hotel, food, puja items etc told on asking about their business status.

“After the corridor’s inauguration, the devotees’ footfall has gone up many-fold. Before it was about 25,000 to 40,000 every day but now the number of visitors range has increased to around 1 lakh on a daily basis and at the weekend it reaches between 1.5 to 2 lakh”, Moolchand Sonwal, assistant administrator of the MTMC told Millennium Post.

Sonwal also said that a massive footfall of devotees at the temple had led to an increase in revenue through donations, the sale of Prasad and darshan fees, it had increased up to four times. The temple management made it mandatory to collect fees for darshan from VIPs too from February 1st of this month to curb corruption, which was sometimes reported, previously, he added.

“A rise in demand for taxis and hotels has increased more after the redevelopment of the temple. Previously, these facilities used to make available easily to tourists but now it has made tough because of the high rush. Hotels in the city are always fully occupied”, Salim, a local cab driver said.