Varanasi:
Many members of Parliament have one thing common - a patchy record on spending the substantial Rs 5 crore a year allotted as their constituency development fund. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to beat that trend in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.
PM Modi sent his proposals for spending in November last year and hopes they are implemented by at least next month. His wishlist is simple - hand pumps, solar pumps and lights. And he wants them equally distributed in all the five assembly segments that make up his parliamentary constituency.
The PM's aides in both Varanasi and New Delhi have also been rallying public and private sector companies to do some work in the 4700-year-old city, most of it under the corporate social responsibility scheme.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited or ONGC has been roped in to beautify all the smaller water bodies or kunds in Varanasi. ONGC is also funding a water ATM scheme in the city; the machines will be installed by Eureka Forbes.
Then there is a major investment by a power corporation of Rs 572 crore to fix issues like haphazard wiring in the city.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is working to de-congest roads through a 15-kilometre ring road. They plan to make main roads 60 metres wide and work is already visible in the city.
But the most ambitious plan is to run a Metro rail service through the ancient temple town, known for its narrow lanes. Many have dismissed it as impossible. But Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) is already drawing up plans for the first 25 kilometres of the underground metro.
Asked how feasible this was, District Magistrate Pranjal Yadav said the planners felt that if they could do it in Delhi's congested Jama Masjid area, they could do it in Varanasi too.
"We are not trying to turn Varanasi into Kyoto," said Ram Gopal Mohale, the BJP mayor of the city, adding, "But we should learn from them and implement in our historic city too."
Kyoto and Varanasi signed a sister city cooperation when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Japan in September last year.