How swachh is the Varanasi that PM Narendra Modi is not visiting?
Despite Modi's presence in the city, several areas of Benaras are stinking with the piles of garbage.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on his much talked about visit to Varanasi, his Parliamentary constituency. A lot of preparations were being made in past several days to extend a warm welcome to the PM, after over eight months of his last visit to the city.
But step outside the areas of the PM's planned itinerary, and you won't be too impressed - several areas of Varanasi are stinking with piles of garbage. Be it Sigra, Jagatganj, Bhelupur or any other area that PM Modi is not visiting in Varanasi, one can witness the garbage on the roads. Meanwhile, hospitals in Varanasi have been seeing malaria and dengue patients on a daily basis, but the municipal corporation doesn't seem to be too concerned about containing its spread.
Ironically, PM Modi has been talking about plans to transform Kashi into Kyoto. But the situation so far, begs the question of how far these plans have reached.
It looks like the PM's consistent advocacy on cleanliness is not really making much head way in his own constituency.