West Bengal Plans 800-Acre International Pilgrimage Zone Around ISKCON Mayapur, Names Nabadwip a Smart City

West Bengal’s urban development minister chaired a high-level administrative meeting at ISKCON Mayapur’s Lotus Building on 1 October and said the 700–800 acres around the temple, together with the surrounding town, will be developed as an international-standard pilgrimage zone. Nabadwip has been named one of the state’s five smart cities.

MAYAPUR, India — The Government of West Bengal plans to redevelop the land around ISKCON’s headquarters at Sri Mayapur into an international-standard pilgrimage centre, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Agnimitra Paul announced on Thursday, 1 October, after an administrative meeting held inside the ISKCON Mayapur campus.

According to Sangbad Pratidin, the meeting took place in the conference hall of ISKCON’s Lotus Building and was attended by Nabadwip MLA Sruti Sekhar Goswami, the Nadia district magistrate and additional district magistrate, KMDA chief executive Nitin Singhania, the department’s joint secretary Supriya Adhikari, senior officials of the Municipal Engineering Directorate, and representatives of ISKCON.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Paul said the main purpose of her visit was to develop the 700–800 acres adjoining the ISKCON temple, and the entire adjacent town area, as a pilgrimage site of international standard. She compared the plan to the ongoing makeover of Kolkata’s College Street and the Tangra Chinatown, saying Mayapur would be given modern infrastructure for the lakhs of pilgrims who come from India and abroad.

The minister listed the area’s current shortcomings. Because Mayapur falls under a panchayat, she said, it has no proper solid-waste management or dumping ground, so refuse accumulates everywhere, and there is no modern sewage treatment plant. She said a blueprint would be drawn up by national-level planners and architects to provide roads, drainage, public transport and modern facilities for visitors, and that the work would be carried out in coordination with the panchayat department even though the area is not a municipality.

Paul also said that Nabadwip, across the Ganges from Mayapur, has been included among the five smart cities selected by the state, and that Nabadwip and Mayapur would each be developed under separate, specific plans. She promised that the work would be taken up “on a war footing” with the municipality’s sanitation and administrative teams.

The Times of India reported the announcement under the headline “Bengal govt plans major Mayapur development project”, and several Bengali outlets, including Kolkata24x7, Asianet News Bangla and Indian Express Bangla, carried the 800-acre figure. Paul attended the evening arati at the ISKCON temple after the meeting.

Participants posted about the meeting on Facebook. One attendee described it as a review meeting “on the issues of development and beautification of ISKCON, Mayapur and Nabadwip Dham as a whole as per international standard”, chaired by the minister at the Lotus Building conference hall on 1 October.

No budget, timeline or land-acquisition details were announced. ISKCON Mayapur had not issued a statement on the plan at the time of writing.

Source: Sangbad Pratidin; The Times of India