From new drains to new colours: Govt’s plan for Bodhgaya

In fact, Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), involved with the Ajanta project, has been appointed consultant to this one and has finished its meetings with all stake-holders. Detailed surveys and maps of the city had to be drawn in the absence of records.

The horizon year is 2030 and though the population of the town is just 30,000, Bodh Gaya has 10 lakh visitors annually.

Contrary to expectation, the new plan does not mean mushrooming of large hotels. According to the plan designers, the idea is to have low-key infrastructure, rather than large hotel chains. Bed and breakfast outfits would be encouraged, composite residential areas like camp sites and tents would be set up for pilgrims.

The task is challenging to say the least: Though cleaner than the main town of Gaya, Bodhgaya is still littered with plastic and garbage. Makeshift shops around the Mahabodhi temple cover the main temple facade. Indiscriminate construction of hotels and hostels has ensured that the town is devoid of any character. There is no drainage facility and the newly installed 60-ft statue of Buddha is barely visible over large RCC constructions.

‘‘The first thing that struck me was people trying to meditate under the Mahabodhi tree and just a few metres away, there were songs playing loudly,’’ said Jagmohan.

Key points of the plan:

• Like in Ajanta, shops will be relocated 3-4 km away and a no-vehicle zone marked out.

• Extensive greenery around the main temple complex essential to the ethos of Buddhism.

• Bus routes diverted to the new shopping hub so that tourists enter the shopping area before they walk to the temple.

• Battery-operated buses to take pilgrims to the gates of the temple.

• Instead of hotels en route to Mahabodhi temple, space reserved for monasteries built by Buddhist countries forming an avenue.

• For the ugly, jarring construction that already exists, efforts will be made to camouflage it with a colour scheme. New buildings will have to follow a strict code of height, colour and architectural elements.

• State govt has been convinced to stop any new approval for building projects ever since Bodhgaya was declared World Heritage Site.

• System of incentives for shopkeepers so that they are assured they do not lose any customers but actually gain some.

• New sewer line and a detailed plan for garbage segregation at the household level.

The familiar question-mark over implementation looms large. Chief Minister Rabri Devi did not respond to the Central Government’s invitation to attend tomorrow’s function. According to Jagmohan, there are ways of getting past this problem. Most of the implementation will be closely monitored by the Centre and he will ‘‘use the good offices’’ of those local MPs and MLAs who are for the heritage project.

‘‘It is the state that stands to lose, if they do not cooperate,’’ said Jagmohan.

He also said that he was against the idea of authorities in this kind of project. The exact nature of the body that will ensure the implementation is yet to be decided upon.