varanasi what prime minister narendra modi is dreaming today for varanasi was conceptualized 13 years ago by the then union urban development minister jagmohan who had launched a venture rejuvenation of culturally significant cities making a beginning from varanasi in march 2001 now modi wants to develop his parliamentary constituency as a smart city on the pattern of japanese smart city of kyoto for which an mou was signed in kyoto on saturday during his fiveday visit to japan the mou provides cooperation in heritage conservation modernization and cooperation in the fields of art culture and academics this will serve as framework for smart heritage city programme between the two countries in 2001 jagmohan had also dreamt of redevelopment of the city creating an environment in which its intellectual philosophical and cultural legacy could be preserved and nurtured it was a step forward to protect and conserve the city though it is yet to be included in the unescos list of world heritage beginning the rejuvenation of culturally significant cities he said i am interested in civic reconstruction cultural rejuvenation and equipping these cities to serve as centres of new awakening in the country his ambitious project was started in varanasi but failed to achieve the goal of making it into a centre of new awakening with a belief that culturally significant cities like varanasi could play a key role in bringing renaissance jagmohan had prepared a blue print of development it aimed at making a frontal attack on areas of civic decay and degeneration and creating a conducive atmosphere some of the prominent features of the rejuvenation plan were revitalisation of historic ghats kunds tanks and other water bodies opening up as much of the city as possible to river front tapping sewage in treatment plants rejuvenation of areas in and around temple complexes and a major thrust to provision of infrastructural facilities through financial and technical assistance of housing and urban development corporation hudco by setting up a culturalcumcommercial complex the city draws a large number of visitors from india and abroad it is difficult for visitors to get glimpses of its rich cultural heritage in a short span of time for this purpose a cultural complex was created in chowkaghat area the functional activities of the cultural complex included promotion of fine arts and performing arts promotional of banaras school of classical music a systematic effort to ensure safety and further promotion of cultural heritage of the city through fairs in original blend and to create an atmosphere of cultural renaissance to unfurl the glory of purvanchal tradition the city is unique in architectural artistic and religious expressions of traditional indian culture today one could see that cultural heritage is being threatened by the changing social and economic conditions jagmohan had strongly felt that for building a truly great india its cultural rejuvenation should have been at the top of agenda with the construction of scientifically designed garbage collection sheds in different localities the citys ambiance got