Kamakhya Corridor

Even as the four-day Ambubachi Mela began on Saturday morning, the focus continued to remain on the much-touted proposed Kamakhya Corridor. The latest is the Government of Assam informing the Gauhati High Court that construction work will start only after getting due clearance from experts in IIT Guwahati and other relevant agencies. The government’s statement came in the wake of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) matter taken up by the Gauhati High Court, seeking a direction that the original structure of Kamakhya Temple was not disturbed. The PIL was filed a few weeks ago by Navajyoti Sarma, a Kamakhya priest, who had expressed potential ecological risks to the age-old temple due to large-scale demolition, excavation, and reconstruction. The petitioner had also raised concerns about the lack of proper ecological and hydrological surveys preceding the project. While the Assam Chief Minister earlier this year announced its decision to develop a grand corridor at the Kamakhya Temple on the lines of the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple Corridor in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the formal launch of the Rs 498 crore project in February this year. According to earlier reports, the proposed corridor will increase the cumulative open space around the Kamakhya temple from 3,000 sq ft at present to approximately 1,00,000 sq ft, spread over three levels. The average width of the access corridor would increase from its current width of 8–10 feet to approximately 27–30 feet. The Prime Minister had also said about 8.5 crore devotees had visited the Kashi corridor within a year of its completion, indicating that the Kamakhya Corridor would also increase the number of visitors manifold on completion. The proposed Kamakhya Corridor has since generated a lot of heat, with some also questioning whether Nilachal Hill would be able to bear such massive footfall or not. Questions have also been raised about any adverse impact the corridor construction might have on the underground water channels of Nilachal. The sanctum sanctorum of Kamakhya Temple itself is said to be a divine spring in the heart of the mythical Blue Hill, while every temple and shrine up there and several ancient pukhuris (tanks) of immense spiritual and architectural value have also been dependent on the ground water flow and springs since time immemorial.