Construction panel finalises new design

LUCKNOW: Ram temple construction committee chairman Nripendra Misra has approved the new design for the temple’s foundation, said Champat Rai, general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

The decision was taken at a joint meeting of the construction committee and the Trust that was held for the second day in Ayodhya on Friday. “The Ram temple foundation’s new design is being prepared in Mumbai. The printed copies will be available for engineers in Ayodhya the next month,” Rai said.

Till then, digging work for temple’s foundation will continue. Engineers of Larsen and Toubro and Tata Consulting Engineers agreed to carry out the digging for temple’s foundation till 40 feet. If required, this depth could be increased.

“Digging work for temple’s foundation will continue. This could be up to 40 feet or more,” Rai said. The need for a new design for the Ram temple foundation arose after loose sand was found during testing work of the temple’s foundation. Thereafter, experts ruled out a pillar-based foundation. Initially, there were plans for 1,200 pillars to be laid in the foundation.

Now, the temple’s foundation will be laid according to the new design which would use stones. The new design has been vetted by engineers of Larsen and Toubro, Tata Consulting Engineers and Chandrakant Sompura, the architect of the project. After copies of the new design reach Ayodhya, a decision on procurement of construction material, its quality and stones for laying foundation would be taken. An eight-member expert committee headed by former Indian Institute of TechnologyDelhi (IIT-Delhi) director Prof VS Raju also looked into precedents of similar structures constructed in the recent past in either India or abroad .