News Brief
UP Assembly Passes 'Banke Bihari Temple Trust Bill', Trust To Manage Temple Offerings And Development
Yogi Adityanath (Image Source: X)
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly has passed the Banke Bihari Corridor Trust Bill 2025 through a voice vote, the News Nation reported.
Under the new law, all offerings and properties related to the Banke Bihari Temple in Mathura will now come under the control of the Trust Committee.
The trust will have 11 nominated members and 7 ex-officio members, India TV reported.
The nominated members include:
3 eminent members from Vaishnav traditions/sects/maths (can be saints, monks, gurus, scholars, heads of maths, mahants, acharyas, or swamis)
3 from various Sanatan Dharma traditions/sects with similar profiles
3 reputed persons from any branch of Sanatan Dharma (scholars, academicians, entrepreneurs, professionals, social workers)
2 from the Goswami tradition- specifically descendants of Swami Haridas; one representing Raj-bhog sevadars and another Shayan-bhog sevadars
The ex-officio members include:
District Magistrate of Mathura
Senior Superintendent of Police
Municipal Commissioner
CEO of Banke Bihari Temple Trust
All nominated members must be practicing Sanatani Hindus. The term for nominated members will be three years. If any ex-officio member is not Hindu, a junior officer will be appointed in their place.
Development and maintenance work for the temple will be carried out under government schemes to improve facilities and the darshan experience for devotees.
The government says the new trust will ensure world-class facilities for devotees while safeguarding the customs established by saint-swami Haridas.
The state government had earlier proposed building a corridor at the temple to streamline crowd management and improve accessibility for visitors.
However, the Goswami community associated with the temple opposed the plan, taking the matter to the Supreme Court. The court temporarily halted the project.
Subsequent rounds of talks between the government and the Goswamis led to partial agreement, after which the bill was introduced in an amended form and passed in the Assembly.
According to the government, the corridor will now be developed in the same manner as those in Varanasi and Ayodhya, where projects were completed with mutual agreement and minimal disputes.
The planned Banke Bihari corridor is expected to significantly ease congestion and enhance the experience for the lakhs of devotees who visit the temple each year.
The passage of this bill not only clears the way for development projects at the temple but is also seen as a major step towards providing modern, safe, and well-managed facilities for pilgrims.
The Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan is a highly revered shrine attracting tens of thousands of devotees daily and hundreds of thousands on special occasions.
