Cabinet Clears Rs 25,446 Crore Highway Corridors In Varanasi

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a transformative project to build two elevated highway corridors in Varanasi, valued at Rs 25,446 crore. These corridors are designed to run along the Varuna and Ganga rivers, addressing the severe traffic congestion caused by a massive influx of religious tourists, which currently exceeds 15 crore visitors annually. The initiative serves as a core pillar of the government's broader Varanasi Decongestion Plan, aimed at modernizing urban mobility in one of the country's oldest cities.

The project involves the construction of a 43-km link corridor along the Varuna river and a 46-km link along the Ganga, both executed under the hybrid annuity mode (HAM). The Ganga project features an iconic 910-meter cable-stayed bridge and a travelator to enhance pedestrian access to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Officials expect these projects to significantly improve connectivity between key hubs such as NH-19, NH-31, and the Varanasi Ring Road, slashing travel times across these corridors by up to 40 minutes.

Beyond urban transport, the Cabinet sanctioned major rail infrastructure upgrades in Odisha and Jharkhand. The doubling and quadrupling of lines in these states will boost freight transport efficiency for coal and iron ore, two critical pillars of India’s industrial backbone. Combined with the Varanasi highway projects, these developments signal a systematic effort by the central government to reduce logistical friction in both high-density urban areas and strategic industrial supply chains. The immediate focus remains on executing these multi-tracking and elevated corridor projects to maximize industrial and tourism-linked economic growth.