By Brij Khandelwal
Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh), Dec 22 (IANS): Faced with what they see as steady degeneration of an ancient land, children of this Hindu holy town, facing a plethora of problems relating to ecology, culture and heritage, will review, discuss and draw up a unique urban master plan at a two-day interactive session-cum-workshop that will then be submitted to the state government for implementation, an organiser said.
"We want to reverse the trend. So far we have been used to bureaucrats and politicians foisting on us their predilections and biased ideas. The time has come to get people involved in planning their future according to their vision," Jagan Nath Poddar, convener of NGO Friends of Vrindavan, told IANS.
"In recent years, "we have witnessed the rapid degradation of Vrindavan's ecology, culture and heritage. We can't remain mute spectators to the degeneration of our town, which has become an international destination for spirituality," Poddar added.
He said Vrindavan's children will now give their valuable suggestions to the government by drafting a comprehensive and technically viable master plan that will envisage the town's overall development without disturbing its natural and man-made heritage.
The plan will also be sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Vrindavan's civil society will get actively involved in this exercise. "Sri Krishna loved children. They should now get an opportunity to have their say," RTI activist Madhu Mangal Shukla told IANS.
To be held at the Vrindavan Public School, Dhaurera, children from Samvid Gurukulam, Bhaktivedanta Gurukula and International School and the Vrindavan Public School will participate in this unique exercise.
Vrindavan's unique heritage status as the centre of Sri Krishna bhakti is under threat as the state government plans its merger with Mathura to upgrade the local body to a municipal corporation. The move has been opposed by the locals as they want Vrindavan's special status preserved.
"The merger has been a sensitive issue and Vrindavan's residents are totally opposed to this kind of hasty approach that ignores the reality and sort of bulldozes the valid objections of the locals," Acharya Sri Vatsa Swamy, a highly respected and vocal champion of Vrindavan's heritage, told IANS.
"Already the Yamuna river has been killed along with its heritage ghats. The dense forests have disappeared and the old havelis and temples are under threat," he said.
So thoughtless has been the so-called urbanisation of Vrindavan that heritage ghats on the river front have been pushed back and a road constructed to obscure the panaromic view.
"Now, the mandarins in the MVDA (Mathura-Vrindavan Development Authority) have begun construction of a bridge right in the centre of the river. "Funnily it is not a bridge to cross the river but runs parallel to the river. Luckily judicial intervention has, for the time being, stalled its construction, but for how long?" Shukla wondered.
Sri Krishna bhaktas from all over the world visit Vrindavan for its spiritual ambience and bhakti. But now efforts are on to make it a tourist spot for the touch-and-go type pilgrims. Once a quiet town, full of greenery, holy ponds and ghats along the river, Vrindavan is increasingly under pressure from the urbanisation lobby.
The stretch from the Chatikara crossing to the main town has a row of new colonies. The tallest Sri Krishna temple, along with plush bungalows and deluxe flats, a helipad and sprawling parking slots for thousands of cars that keep invading the serene ambience of the holy town, are on the cards.
"But whether all these facilities put together will rekindle the joy of Sri Krishna bhakti, spiritualise the dham, preserve the unique heritage of the land and clean up the foul air around, are huge questions that planners should ask themselves," Sri Krishna bhakt Jagdanand Das, editor of www.vrindavantoday.org, told IANS.