Varanasi. Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham is destroying its own records. Lakhs of devotees gather here for darshan during festivals including Sawan and Shivratri, but even on a normal day like Sunday (17 March), more than five lakh devotees of Shiva visit here. This number is generally equal to the number of visitors coming on special festivals. After being dedicated by the Prime Minister on 13 December 2021, Shri Kashi Vishwanath Dham is setting a new record. Devotees are continuously flocking to have darshan of Kashi Puradhipati Devadhidev Mahadev. Yogi government is providing all facilities to the devotees for darshan in Kashi.
More than five lakh visitors arrived
Due to the convenience and security in the new and grand Srikashi Vishwanath Dham temple, the traffic of visitors to Kashi is continuously increasing. After the transformation of the Kashi Vishwanath temple complex from about three thousand square feet to a huge area of about five lakh square feet, Sanatanis are flocking to the Dham for darshan. Shri Vishwa Bhushan Mishra, Chief Executive Officer of Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust, said that on March 17, 2024, a new record of the highest daily number of visitors on a normal day (except festivals) was established. A total of 5,03,024 visitors got darshan of Mahadev on this day. He told that before the inauguration of the corridor, on normal days the number of devotees used to be around 20 to 30 thousand, whereas after the inauguration, the number of devotees increased to 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh.
Most devotees coming to Kashi and Ayodhya
The Chief Executive Officer said that the number of devotees is highest during Sawan and Shivratri, but on normal days this has been seen for the first time, when the number of Shiva devotees has crossed 5 lakh in one day (Sunday, March 17). Pradeep Rai, Secretary, Travel Agent Association of India (TAAI), Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, said that tourists are getting maximum interest for the two-way circuit of Ayodhya and Kashi. In both the religious cities, maximum number of tourists are coming during weekends.