3 min readNew DelhiAug 21, 2021 11:23 AM IST
First published on: Aug 20, 2021 at 08:16 PM IST
The Narayankoti temple in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district is set to get a major facelift. For this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in New Delhi on Friday between the Ministry of Tourism, the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Director General, Culture, Uttarakhand and the Social Legal Research & Education Foundation (SLREF). The site was identifed under the Centre’s Adopt A Heritage Project earlier this year. SLREF has come on board as Monument Mitra for the site.
According to the MoU, the SLREF will develop various amenities for tourists/visitors around the heritage site. This includes construction of roads, installation of street lighting, garbage disposal system and ensuring availability of clean drinking water, development of the parking area and revamping the entrance and boundary wall around the temple site.
The Narayankoti Temple is a group of ancient temples located about two kilometers from Guptkashi on the Rudraprayag-Gaurikund highway.
It is a major attraction for devotees visiting Rudraprayag as it’s the only place in the country where temples of all the nine planets – Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Sun, Moon, Rahu and Ketu – are present. It is believed that these temples were constructed in the 9th century.
Speaking on the occasion, Uttarakhand Minister of Tourism, Satpal Maharaj, said: “Adopt a Heritage project by Ministry of Tourism is helping ancient monuments, archaeological sites and temples regain their lost glory. The development of facilities will have a direct impact towards increasing the number of visitors and will benefit local youth by generating employment/self-employment opportunities in the region.”
State tourism secretary Dilip Jawalkar added: “Gartang Gali, Pithoragarh Fort, Chaysheel Bugyal, Chaurasi Kutiya, Sati Ghat and Narayankoti Temple have been identified as among the important heritage sites of Uttarakhand and progress is being made towards the development of these sites and making them ready for tourism.”
This is the 29th MoU signed under the scheme, which was launched in September 2017. The monument mitra will use its CSR funds to create and maintain tourist amenities for a period of five years.
The SLREF has come on board as a 'Monument Mitra' for the site. 
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