UP cabinet okays Tata Sons’ Rs 650-cr proposal for ‘museum of temples’ in Ayodhya

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal from the Tata Sons to build a ‘museum of temples’ in Ayodhya at a cost of Rs 650 crore.

Sharing details about the decision, Tourism Minister Jaivir Singh said the tourism department would provide the company land for the international-level museum on a 90-year lease for a token amount of Re 1.

“Tata Sons had proposed the project through the Central government, offering to build the museum at a cost of Rs 650 crore under its corporate social responsibility fund,” Singh said at a press meet here after the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

A ‘museum of temples’ in Ayodhya has been talked about since last year. In September, Adityanath and senior officials made a presentation on it before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The prime minister liked the idea of the temple museum very much and it was discussed in detail,” an official had told PTI then.

The plan then was to showcase the history and architecture of famous temples in the country. Also discussed was setting up a light-and-sound show at the proposed museum.

The state cabinet on Tuesday also okayed another proposal of the Tata Sons for carrying out development works in the temple town at an additional cost of Rs 100 crore, Singh said.

Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies.

Other proposals approved during the cabinet meeting included the launch of helicopter services in Lucknow, Prayagraj an Kapilvastu under the public-private partnership (PPP) model by building helipads, Singh said.

The cabinet also cleared a proposal to develop dormant heritage buildings into tourist spots, the minister said.

Three such heritage buildings- Kothi Roshan Dulha in Lucknow, Barsana Jal Mahal in Mathura and Shukla Talab (pond) in Kanpur — were selected for development as tourist spots, he said.

He added that researchers would be selected under the Mukhya Mantri tourism fellowship programme for the purpose.

Urban Development Minister A K Sharma, who was also present in the press meet, said the state cabinet approved plans worth Rs 351.40 crore for expanding the sewage system in the outer areas of Ayodhya under the Amrit Yojana-2 programme.

He said the financial contribution share towards the Amrit Yojana scheme by local bodies serving a population of 10 lakh has been reduced from 30 per cent to 15 per cent.

Similarly, the share of the civic bodies catering to a population size between 1 lakh to 10 lakh has been decreased from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, the minister added.