Mathura road network to get renovated

TNN | Apr 3, 2015

Mathura: In some good news for commuters using Mathura roads to reach religious places like Govardhan and Barsana, the district is expected to see a major overhauling of its road network. 

More than a dozen roads have been identified for renovation. Apart from this, three sites for construction of railway over bridges (ROB) are also in the process of approval. 

Giving this information, Anil Kumar, PWD chief said we will shortly send plans and budgetary estimates to the state government. Details of cost and time frame for the project will be submitted to S P Saxena, regional head of state PWD in Agra, who will then forward it to the state government for release of funds. 

Kumar said the whole exercise will be completed within a month and the work is expected to start before monsoons. The road building exercise has gained a new momentum ahead of the 2017 assembly polls, claimed sources. 

On March 11, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had accepted the demand for a ring road around the Govardhan Hill and a bypass, along with widening of the 21 km-long Parikrama Marg, which is used by lakhs of people every month. 

A new road from Kosi, Nandgaon, Barsana, Goverdhan connecting Sonkh, Mathura via Raya to the Yamuna Expressway cut, will be converted into a four lane. 

"At present, people coming from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttarakhand via Expressway find it very cumbersome and time consuming to take circuitous routes and bad roads to reach Goverdhan and Barsana. Now it will be a comfortable journey," claimed city activist Manoj Choudhary. 

The other roads are Yamuna Expressway-Vrindavan cut, Gokul Restaurant to Masani link and the Bhuteshwar crossing touching Sri Krishna Janam Bhoomi, Kosi-Nandgaon-Kokilavan, Nandgaon-Kama, Raya-Maant, Sadabad-Raya, Chatikara-Vrindavan. 

The three ROBs are expected to come up at Murga Phatak, Chata-Goverdhan, and Chata-Barsana.

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Bhumi Pujan for two-day Braj Mahotsav performed in Mathura

Press Trust of India | Mathura 

March 31, 2015 

The 'Bhumi Pujan' ceremony has been performed here for the two-day Braj Mahotsav to be held from April 11, which is aimed at promoting the city's rich cultural heritage. 

BJP MP Hema Malini was present during the ceremony held on Sunday at the precinct of Chandrodaya temple here. 

"There is no dearth of potential for tourism in Braj Bhumi. Our effort is to cash in on the potential and use it in promoting tourism," she said. 

"Every effort is being made to ensure participation of noted Bollywood stars in the festival. When the program would be aired on TV worldwide, people would be lured to visit Mathura," Hema said. 

Former Uttar Pradesh minister Ravi Kant Garg today said that Mathura is the model of eco-tourism. 

"Neither state nor Union government so far, ever tried to tap the tourist potential of Braj Bhumi. With 12 forests and 24 semi-forests, Braj Bhumi is the model of eco-tourism," he said.

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Hema inaugurates UP’s 1st water ATM in Mathura

MATHURA: Lok Sabha member Hema Malini on Monday launched a drinking water dispensing ATM at Sonkh, about 20km from Mathura. This is Uttar Pradesh's first water ATM, which has been built at a cost of around Rs 18 lakh. 

Sonkh town area committee executive officer Ram Asrey Kamal told TOI that people will have to pay just Rs 2 for 20 litres of drinking water. "It will be safe, cool and potable. Children will get the water for free." 

Nearly 2,500 families will benefit from the machine, which will like an ATM be operated with a card, which will be pre-paid. Sonkh presently gets piped water, which is pumped from a location about 10km from the town. 

The district administration is also considering providing water that has gone through the RO (reverse osmosis) process in villages too. DM Rajesh Kumar has forwarded a plan to use solar energy to power the RO plants in villages to the state government. The UP Jal Nigam will execute the project. The initiative is based on a central survey report. 

Malini, addressing locals after the inaugural ceremony at the Vidhya Mandir ground here, appealed to residents to help in making Braj an ideal cultural and religious centre. The parliamentarian expressed concern over the rising incidences of crime against women. On the contentious land acquisition bill, the BJP MP said she would raise the problems, faced by local farmers, with her party. Nagar panchayat president Shiv Shankar Verma, then, listed the problems faced by locals that needed to be addressed urgently and handed it over to Malini.

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Committee to be formed for protection of monuments in Mathura

MATHURA: A committee would be formed to protect ancient monuments and propagate local culture, an official of the Mathura Vrindavan Development Authority (MVDA) said today. 

"The committee after formation will decide the kind of programmes to be undertaken to promote culture. It may be on the lines of Taj Mahotsava,," MVDA Secretary S B Singh said. 

Another committee to maintain cleanliness around monuments would also be formed as per decision of the Authority, he said. 

Taj Mahotsava, a cultural extravaganza, takes place in Agra every year. 

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Vrindavan sadhus to conduct mass wedding

AGRA: In a gesture of support to farmers reeling under a series of blows after unseasonal rains destroyed their crops, sadhus in Mathura-Vrindavan, along with their followers, have announced that they will arrange the weddings of the farmers' daughters in order to ease their financial burden.

Though the government doesn't have exact figures, there have been frequent reports in the recent past of farmers across UP either committing suicide or dying of heart attack after seeing their crops flattened by the untimely showers. The seers have now said that they will organize a mass wedding on April 21, Akshaya Tritiya, for the daughters of those farmers who have been left with no money to marry them off. 

"I was very shocked to hear that a farmer in Vrindavan died recently as he could not marry his daughter after the losses he suffered in the recent rains," said Govind Vallabh Das, a saint from Vrindavan and one of the organisers of the event. "Even a girl committed suicide in Hathras as she couldn't see her father, already suffering from huge losses and burdened by a heavy loan, running from pillar to post to arrange funds for her wedding scheduled for May." 

According to Pooran Kaushik, district president of Sarva Brahman Mahasabha, an organization involved in the initiative, the weddings of almost 108 girls are expected to be performed at the ceremony. "Funds for the event are being provided by devotees as well as NGOs like Govindram Goyal Charitable Trust of Kolkata, and Shree Ramnandacharya Vaishnav Seva Trust of Vrinadavan. Registrations would start from March 27, and will continue till April 15. The weddings would be held at Vrindavan."

The mass wedding would be a 'sarva-jatiya' (all caste) event. The organizers say that they have no role in the selection of grooms which would be the prerogative of the bride and her family. "Our objective is mainly to act as facilitators," said Das. 

Interestingly, the organizers add that their responsibility towards the girls will not end with the wedding ceremony. "We will give our names as the guardians of the bride and fulfill the responsibilities that a father carries out even after the girl is married, and settled at her home," said a representative of one of the NGOs involved in the mass wedding.

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