Govt sanctions ₹17 cr for Tulsi Smarak Bhawan facelift

LUCKNOW: In another effort to promote tourism in Ayodhya, the Yogi government is all set to give a facelift to Tulsi Smarak Bhawan.

The government has approved a budget of ₹17 crore for the project and has already released ₹4.5 crore for it.

The historic Tulsi Smarak Bhawan, which is part of the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan, is dedicated to great saint–poet Goswami Tulsidas. At this complex, Ramleela is performed everyday from 6pm to 9pm.

The Smarak’s auditorium is in bad shape. It was in 2013-14 that a proposal for renovation of the bhawan was forwarded to the then Samajwadi Party government by divisional commissioner Vipin Kumar Dwivedi. Since then the proposal was lying pending.

Recently, Neelkanth Tewari, culture and tourism minister in the state government, inspected the bhawan and took note of long pending issues related its renovation. “The state government has decided to renovate the Tulsi Smarak Bhawan and has approved a budget of ₹17 crore. This renovation work was long pending,” said Tewari.

“I have issued instructions for proper monitoring of the renovation work and its time bound completion,” Tewari added.

The minister assured that the renovation work of the Tulsi Smarak Bhawan will soon start.

“All previous governments have neglected Ayodhya. This work has been long pending. All previous governments have overlooked repeated requests of locals to renovate the Smarak,” asserted Tewari.