About Braj - Areas of Work - Braj Master Planning

On the mandate of Government of Uttar Pradesh, The Braj Foundation prepared a comprehensive tourism master plan of the Braj region envisaging projects worth Rs 2000 crores spanning 150 heritage villages and over 700 sites of importance. The who’s who of the country have put on record their accolades for this gigantic exercise. “I have seen many Master Plans in the country but the depth, details, sensitivity and completeness that are seen in the Master Panning of The Braj Foundation is rarely to be seen. I congratulate The Braj Foundation for this laudable achievement”, Secretary, Planning Commission of India. “I specially appreciate Braj Foundation that they with unique understanding, expertise, field survey report and depth of knowledge of Braj’s cultural aspects have given new life to the Master Plan of Braj. I hope that this plan will become a developmental model for the entire Braj region”, Director General, Uttar Pradesh Tourism.

After the success of the master planning exercise, The Braj Foundation has been given the mandate of preparing the Detailed Project Reports of the select projects as envisaged in the tourism master plan. The work for the same is underway.

The Braj region has had been passing through the dichotomy of ample resources with meager planning. Mathura district tops the list of revenue contributors for the entire state of Uttar Pradesh. The heavy influx of pilgrims of various hues bring along a huge influx of charity money to the various religious institutions across the region. An impressive amount of private investment too flows into the region due to its strategic locational and religious importance.

The Braj Foundation since its inception has been advocating for a comprehensive developmental strategy having scientific foundations involving the multifarious stakeholders - local communities, government agencies, religious institutions, social groups and various external organizations etc. The Foundation's advocacy got special treatment as it used to be backed by solid ground research work which has been continuing to this date.

As a part of this advocacy, the Foundation made a number of presentations to the people who matter. One such presentation was made to the officials of the Government of Uttar Pradesh who took it seriously and got the Chief Minister to direct the Mathura Vrindavan Development Authority to prepare a Comprehensive Tourism Development Plan for the Braj region encompassing the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh in August 2008

A Tourism Master Plan of Braj envisaging projects worth Rs. 2000 crores was therefore prepared by The Braj Foundation in a consortium with IL&FS IDC – a leading infrastructural major. Completed in a record timeframe of 45 days, the plan has been widely acclaimed for its comprehensiveness and sensitivity. The entire Braj region spanning the district of Mathura has been divided into 5 tourism clusters namely Barsana-Nandgaon; Goverdhan; Mathura-Vrindavan; Mat and Gokul. These clusters map in their entirety with the administrative tehsils and blocks so that tourism development can be synergized with the overall developmental strategy of the district.

Several interesting tourism products like the Romantic Trail around Barsana were conceived as a part of this extensive exercise which was based on years of intense research and planning carried out by the foundation.

The Tourism Master Plan of Braj Region could not be completed without the vision provided by Sri Ramesh Baba of Gahvarvan, Barsana. Baba an eminent scholar on Braj culture, heritage and sacred cosmology remains an instant research base on Braj. He instantly poured the entire knowledge and wisdom of his 54 years of study and travels in Braj. The entire Master Planning Exercise should therefore be dedicated to him and the mission of restoring the pristine glory and grandeur of Braj region inspired by him.

Fallouts Impressed with the dedication & quality of work done by The Braj Foundation, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Mr. Ashok Gahlot has expressed the desire to take up the master planning exercise for the Rajasthan part of Braj region comprising of Deeg and Kaman tehsils of Bharatpur district. Similarly, the senior officials of Government of Haryana have also expressed their intense desire to take up the development of Haryana part of Braj comprising of Hodal tehsil of Palwal district on a similar note