Cleaner ghats, increasing tourists, more opportunities: Locals share changing picture of Varanasi

Varanasi, Jan 3 (PTI) As darkness descends on Shivala Ghat in Varanasi, motorboats carrying tourists glide across Ganga, their lights shimmering on the water like floating islands. On the riverbank, a stage is set and hundreds gather, waiting for a cultural performance to begin, as the ancient ghats come alive.

This scene captures how Varanasi has changed in the last decade. Cleaner ghats, rising tourist numbers, and new employment opportunities, locals say, are reshaping the city, making it more welcoming for visitors while improving life for residents.

Ram Lakhan Mallah, a 27-year-old boatman who ferries passengers between Guleria Ghat and Bhonsle Ghat, credits Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- Varanasi’s MP since 2014 -- for driving these changes.

"Now more tourists are coming. And the boatmen are also getting more work. Employment has also increased.

"The ghats are also much cleaner than before as the municipal corporation employees now work in three shifts to clean the ghats," said Mallah, who is happy reaping the benefits of the peak tourist season, which runs from November to February.

Varanasi has 88 ghats lining the banks of the holy river, among them the prominent and historically significant ones are Assi Ghat, Dashashwamedh Ghat, Manikarnika Ghat, Panchganga Ghat, and Rajendra Prasad Ghat.

While many of these ghats are used for bathing, worshipping, and other religious rituals, the two ghats -- Manikarnika and Harishchandra -- are dedicated solely to cremation.

At Dashashwamedh ghat, massive crowds gather for the divine Ganga Aarti, where lamps glow and shimmer on the river, and offerings float gently with the waves.

Just a short distance away, at Manikarnika Ghat, the contrast is dark, with multiple pyres burning simultaneously, underscoring the city’s seamless co-existence of devotion, life, and death.

Riddhi Srivastava, a 55-year-old tourist from Mumbai, acknowledged that the cleanliness arrangements are much better from previous years.

"Even the water of Ganga is also much cleaner than before," she added.

The 88 ghats in Varanasi stretch for about six kilometers from one end to the other.

According to figures released by the Uttar Pradesh government, while 54.89 lakh tourists visited Kashi in 2014, this number increased to 14,69,75,155 by September 2025. Between 2014 and September 2025, a total of more than 45.44 crore Indian and foreign tourists visited the streets and ghats of Kashi.

The government claims that the number of tourists visiting Varanasi in 2025 has crossed 14.69 crore, which is more than 25 times the number in 2014.

Anoop Singh, 50, a taxi driver in the city, is happy with the development, particularly the widening of roads and the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, which has led to a spike in tourism, giving a boost to his income as well.

"Now there are fewer traffic jams in the city, and the police system is vigilant 24/7. If any incident occurs, the police arrive at the spot within five to seven minutes," said Singh, highlighting the benefits of the new infrastructure and improved civic management.

Echoing Singh’s sentiment and experiencing the changes firsthand as a tourist, Srivastava also lauded the administration, saying that women and girls can now walk around the ghats even at three in the morning without any fear or danger.

Ujjwal Biswas, 32, who has been selling spiced lemon tea at Shivala Ghat for the past nine years, also noticed the transformation.

“Since Modi ji came, the river has become cleaner. Earlier, people used to dump post-mortem bodies along the ghats, and unclaimed corpses would wash ashore. The water of the Varuna River used to stink.

"But now, you won’t even find a single flower lying on the Ganga Ghat. The Ganga has also become clean," he said, adding that the increased footfalls has also boosted his earnings from selling spiced tea, reflecting how the city’s revival is benefiting local businesses as well.

However, not everyone is happy, and the situation is far from hunky-dory.

For instance, Happy, a taxi driver, disapproves of the changes being made to the city’s landscape, especially the demolition drives "in the name of development".

Meanwhile, others like Ashish Mishra, a painter at Assi Ghat, and boatman Mallah feel that the improvements have done little to boost their stagnant incomes.

"People are losing their livelihoods. Shops that had been in families for generations in Dal Mandi, Nai Sadak, and several other areas have been demolished. People are angry," said Happy, referring to the demolition drive underway to widen the road in Dal Mandi, one of the oldest areas of the city.

Similarly, Mallah, while acknowledging the positive changes, regrets that even after gruelling for 12-hours a day, he only manages to earn around Rs 12,000 a month.

He explained that contracts for operating boats on the river are awarded for each ghat, and only the boat owners secure these contracts.

“All the boatmen are poor. We operate rented boats that belong to the boat owners who have the ghat contracts,” said Mallah.

His dream is to save enough money to buy his own boat one day, but with his current earnings, he doesn’t see that becoming a reality anytime soon. PTI NK MG MAH MAH