Construction of Ram-Janki Marg will be expedited: UP CM

Ayodhya: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today said the construction of the Ram-Janki Marg from here to Nepal’s Janakpur would be expedited, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart inaugurated a bus service between the two cities sacred to Hindus.

The chief minister was in Ayodhya to receive a Nepalese delegation that reached here today by the Indo-Nepal bus service. The bus was flagged off by prime ministers Modi and K P Sharma Oli from Janakpur in the Himalayan nation.

The Ram-Janki Marg — connecting Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, to Janakpur, the birthplace of Goddess Sita — is part of a Ramayana Circuit that aims to promote religious tourism in Nepal and India.

The Nepalese delegation comprised political leaders and officials, and they were apprised of the road through a brochure of the Uttar Pradesh information department. The Ram-Janki road will reduce travel time between Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and Janakpur in Nepal from eleven hours to seven hours, Adityanath said.

“This is Modiji’s best effort to connect the heritage of Nepal and India… I thank him for this direct bus service. Both the governments (India and Nepal) are finalising the agreement to fix the route and duration,” he said.

“Times have changed and ages have passed since Lord Rama’s visit to Janakpur, but the relation between both the countries cannot be breached. The relation of India and Nepal will remain intact,” the chief minister said.

Speaking on the occasion, Saroj Kumar Kushwaha, a provincial minister from Nepal, said, “There is an unbreakable relation of Ram and Sita, both the nations must remember this.”  Usha Yadav, also a provincial minister, urged the Uttar Pradesh government to cooperate in the development of the Madhesi community.

“Women in both countries share the same status of suppression and harassment, governments must take initiative to support them,” she said. The Ram-Janki Marg, according to the brochure, will pass through 14 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.