PM Modi Promises Prosperity for Varanasi Boatmen with New Cricket Stadium

PM Modi Promises Prosperity for Varanasi Boatmen with New Cricket Stadium

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday laid the foundation for a new cricket stadium in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, and promised that it would transform the economy of the temple town and benefit boatmen, hoteliers, and taxi drivers.

"Big events will be organised when such a big centre for sports is built. Spectators and players will arrive in large numbers," Modi said while symbolically laying the foundation for the stadium, in the Ganjari area on Varanasi's outskirts.

"It will benefit hoteliers, small and big eateries, rickshaw and taxi drivers. And the boatmen will have laddus in both hands," he added.

However, several boatmen in Varanasi are skeptical of Modi's promise. They say that two of his past decisions, demonetization and the introduction of river cruise services, have already destroyed their livelihoods.

"The Prime Minister should know that his demonetization of 2016 and his decision to start a river cruise here (under the Centre's Namami Gange project) last year has already destroyed our livelihood," Pradeep Bajrewala, one of Varanasi's 1,100 boatmen, told The Telegraph.

"In the aftermath of the demonetization, a large number of our regular clients stopped coming to Varanasi. Some of us couldn't exchange our Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes because of the long queues at the banks."

Bajrewala said that any increased inflow of outsiders because of the stadium was unlikely to help the boatmen.

"Tourist arrivals have increased in recent years, anyway, because of the hype around the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, but they all want to take the cruise service," he said.

"Also, we have heard that there would be taxi boats (covered motorboats), which will hit us further as we ply only the traditional rowing boats."

The boatmen are worried that the new stadium will lead to the introduction of taxi boats on the Ganga, which will further hit their business. They have said that they will not allow taxi boats on the Ganga.

Meanwhile, Modi said that the new cricket stadium, which will seat more than 30,000 people, would be dedicated to Lord Shiva.

"I know that every Kashi resident has been happy ever since they saw the image of the proposed stadium," he said. "The design of the stadium is dedicated to Mahadev."

Varanasi now has a small cricket stadium that seats about 300 people.