New Delhi: The trend in tourism witnessed in Ayodhya for the last two-three months is not satisfactory, an economist of Ayodhya claims. He says that the number of devotees in Ayodhya has declined by about 20 per cent, according to a report in Amar Ujala.
Even though tourism is going on, but its pace has slowed down since April. Due to this, the gross domestic product of Ayodhyadham has also declined by one and a half per cent, a survey conducted by the economist and his team claims.
General Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand Economic Association and economist of Avadh University, Prof Vinod Srivastava, said that on the basis of his survey for the last few months, devotees have been coming to Ayodhya for darshan, but are spending very little.
Among the devotees who are coming to the religious place, 80 per cent comprise the traditional ones, who keep visiting Ayodhya regularly. At present, the number of devotees coming to Ayodhya is between 50,000 and 80,000. It started declining from the month of April onwards, the survey found out.
After Pran Pratishtha (consecration ceremony), till April around one to one and a half lakh devotees used to come to Ayodhya every day. However, now the number of devotees has decreased by 20 per cent. Due to this, there has been a short-term decline in the income contributed by tourists to Ayodhya’s gross state domestic product. There is a decrease of about one to one and a half per cent in this. One of the main reasons behind this is that the devotees are not staying in Ayodhya for more than a day, according to the survey.
Prof Vinod Srivastava claims that the survey conducted by his team every month has revealed that the income from traditional employment which had increased after the consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya, has now come down.
The income of those selling photos, tika, sandalwood, goods etc by setting up shop on the footpath and on Ramjanmabhoomi path and Rampath has plummeted. Hotels and dharamshalas have also reduced the rent compared to the initial days, as per the survey.
Spending Rs 1,000 now as compared to Rs 3,000 before
The survey has also revealed that earlier, the tourists and devotees who used to come to Ayodhya spent at least Rs 3,000 on food, drinks and marketing. They used to pay tariff for staying in hotels and dharamshalas. Now, the devotees who are coming are barely spending Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. This has affected the gross state domestic product of Ayodhya.
‘Devotee count hasn’t decreased much, but income has’
Businessman Rajkumar Yadav, who sells Ramnami and clothes, said that the devotees have not decreased much, but the income has definitely decreased. By April, the daily income was around Rs 5,000. Now one earns Rs 1,000. The devotees who are coming are having darshan but are not showing interest in shopping, he added.