CONTENTS

01 A social impact study of urban interventions at Varanasi Part of Academic Dissertation

Varanasi being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of India, with its rich cultural heritage attracts a large sum of visitors both from the country and abroad to its land. The major part of these visitors are pilgrims who come to visit the world famous shrine of Kashi

Vishwanath Temple and the riverfront ghats to take holy dip in river Ganges. With the increase in the tourism due to transportation technology the city is coping with the problems to cater to such large population of its citizen as well as the tourists. Considering the number of visitors, the growing needs of its citizen and to meet the city up to international standards, various projects under Smart City Mission has been started. Amongst its various projects, “Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor Project” has been the focal point of all the major developments in the city which involves urban regeneration around the holy shrine. The project intends to provide better pilgrim experiences in the area and thus has placed pressure on the government to expand Temple’s infrastructure capacity. Such emphasis on tourism planning and development has had significant implications on the residents of the area, many of whom have been displaced by corridor developments. This research focuses on the individuals or communities affected and displaced in the process of redevelopment around a holy shrine and to study the social impact that the intervention has created on the communities that lived as a whole and the individuals

who make up that community by means of onsite interviews with the locals and officials as wells as understanding the historical context of the site in relation to the different phases of development that took place.

1.1 Research Questions and Objectives

The Objectives of the research are listed below:

To study the evolution of the settlements around the ghats and their social contributions. Understanding the relevance of the historical urban fabric in the heritage city.

To study the impact of such intervention on the social fabric of the community and the wellbeing of the individuals and families. Assessment of the tangible and intangible aspects in terms of the stakeholders with respect to the intervention.

1.2 Past Position and Setup

Archaeologically proven, the city has been inhabited by humans since 800 BCE and back. Whereas, if the continuity of cultural tradition is concerned Banaras surpasses all civilization centers. In the early medieval period Varanasi passed from one ruler to another and developed culture and architecture accordingly. The traditional city of Varanasi, Kashi, has undergone transformations over time while still holding on to its original character and ethos. Areas of the old city exhibit dense development due to their proximity to the holy Ghats, and also as a result of their social and economic value and their longevity of existence. This core, the Pakka Mohallas, represents the cultural fabric of the city.

The significant evolution of settlements around the riverfront ghats can be seen from 18301880.In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the most significant change is the – increase in the pakka mahals which rapidly encroached upon the kaccha houses. Also all the vacant spaces in the immediate neighborhood of the Ganga were filled in by pakka houses.

1.2 Problem Statement

The movement of the pilgrims from ghats to the temple was through very narrow lanes of 2-2.5 meters which had to

accommodate a large number of crowds on daily basis and the numbers reaching to lakhs on festivals. Also to add there

were shops and residences attached with local population of the area adding to more congestion and creating difficulty for people to visit the temple and stand in lines for hours.(According to the officials and locals)

1.4 Intervention

To solve this, problem identification of the movement pattern of the pilgrims and the area with more number of crowd and congestion was done. This cleared the path from the three ghats which came in direct axis right behind the Vishwanath temple that is Lalita ghat, Jalasen ghat and Manikarnika ghat which had in total 2 lanes connecting ghats to the main temple complex. Now these two lanes have been demolished, with the demolition of all the shops and residences that came in between the area identified for the Corridor Project. Currently Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust has been set up for the Corridor project.

Fig 2: Plan of the corridor project

Fig 3: Detailed view of the corridor

Fig 5: Entrance to the main temple Fig 4: Multipurpose hall

Fig 6: Varanasi Gallery

1.5 Social Impact

Interviews with locals were conducted to study the social impact of this major intervention. According to the discussions, different points of view amongst the locals were observed as not everyone had negative opinions about the development and their displacement. Here are some of them :

Raj Kumar Kapoor. Personal Interview.22 March 2019

“They cannot bring back my identity which I have made here in 50 years; they cannot make it in a day. Now how will I start my new business elsewhere, how will it work there as it did before? What’s lost is lost, that can definitely not be compensated” [while sitting in front of his house which is in the line of demolition, who owned the shop of Banarasi saree in Lahori Tola].

Ravi Shankar Giri. Personal Interview. 22

March 2019

Fig 7: Saree shop (next to line of demolition)

“I used to be the pujari of this temple and I took care of it and the tourists came and visited this

temple and my daily income depended on it” [who is a priest and was a pujari in the temple he owned corridor

which is now taken in the corridor project].

Rajendra Kumar Aggarwal. Personal

Fig 8: Temple to be preserved in the

Interview. 22March 2019

“We have 25 members in our family and the place we lived in was very small to adjust in with growing needs of everyone. We had very much trouble in going from one place to another especially in festivals with so much congestion and crowd with litters around in this narrow lane”.

Fig 9: Residence being demolished

1.6 Conclusion

Varanasi with its varied tangible and intangible heritage assets attracts tourists and pilgrims from all over the world. No doubt the Number of tourists that the city receives has led to the change in urban forms of the city. To see this from global context and to meet the city up to international standards the interventions made do serve as positive aspects to improve the experiences of the visitors as a whole. But while these interventions are made the host communities need to be also

taken care of. Providing just the compensation amount has never been enough for the people displaced as there are various other aspects related to the displacement of the people which needs to be focused upon.

The implications of the city’s accomplishment of a rapid and aggressive program of physical upgrades have been a laxity in the development and enforcement of a robust regulatory infrastructure that addresses the needs of its residents. To date, all redevelopment initiatives (completed or planned) are positioned inside the city’s core and overlap with densely constructed neighborhoods. The task of this approach to development is threefold; first, the present day layout system does now not accommodate the socioeconomic truth of the citizens it displaces, Second, the demolitions proceeds despite absence of any long time period making plans for displaced groups in the town , and third, implementation of project has started without progress in the provision of alternative solutions, because the intervening place also has various other problems of motion and transportation as well.

Although, this intervention provides better experiences to pilgrims and tourists. And it seems that the pilgrims have been the prime importance because the tourists who come from other parts of the world normally come to see the historical fabric of the city which has been demolished. Although no doubt due to the development of the street it is easier now for the tourists to visit the temple without hustle and congestion and more importantly the safety and security issues have been solved but in the process the locals have been at loss.

*Note: This is only a jist of the dissertation; to read onto full dissertation please visit the following link –