When the relatively low-profile Mohan Yadav from Ujjain was installed as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in December 2023, among the several signals sent out was that a son of the soil was being anointed to prepare the religious city to host the Simhastha Mahakumbh in 2028.
Ujjain, like Ayodhya, would be primed as the next major centre of religion, culture, tourism and infrastructure development. Home to one of the 12 Jyotirlingas, Ujjain has witnessed a massive surge in public investment, economic zones, urban expansion and real estate activity in anticipation.
The state government has accelerated road infrastructure and urban development projects. Several highways, housing projects and satellite townships have already begun taking shape.
The scale of investment has grown dramatically over successive Simhasthas. During the 2004 Simhastha, the BJP government led by Uma Bharati earmarked around Rs 256 crore for the religious congregation. By 2016, expenditure had risen to nearly Rs 5,000 crore, much of it on creating permanent infrastructure to develop Ujjain into a major pilgrimage centre. Ahead of the 2028 Simhastha, however, the scale is unprecedented. Over the past 30 months alone, more than Rs 30,000 crore has been earmarked for Ujjain’s transformation.
Of this, around Rs 25,000 crore has been allocated for Simhastha-related infrastructure. Another Rs 3,000 crore has been sanctioned for the 48.1-km Indore-Ujjain Greenfield four-lane corridor, along with Metro connectivity, six-lane highways, IT parks and an industrial township at Vikram Udyogpuri.
Additionally, Ujjain received Rs 940 crore under the Smart City Mission from the Ministry of Urban Development. More than half of this amount, around Rs 497 crore, was spent on the redevelopment of the Mahakal temple. Going a step further for the temple redevelopment project, 5.27 acres of waqf land, designated as a graveyard with a mosque, was acquired for parking facilities without obtaining the mandatory no objection certificate from the Waqf Board.
Revenue department records show a sharp rise in property registrations in both Indore and Ujjain over the past two years. Local real estate players believe that infrastructure expansion and favourable policies under the new master plan will continue driving land prices upwards in the run-up to 2028. With land values spiralling, builders and businessmen from Indore and Dewas, both within 50 km of Ujjain, have flocked to the city in search of opportunities.
Someone who bought five acres of land 8 km from Ujjain for Rs 25 lakh claims he is now receiving offers of as much as Rs 5 crore for the same plot. He is not selling. Residential and commercial property within Ujjain city and along the Ujjain-Indore and Ujjain-Dewas corridors has seen an exponential rise in valuations over the past two years.
The chief minister has announced that farmers whose land is acquired for development projects will be compensated at four times the applicable collector guideline rate.
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