Ram temple to open for devotees from end of 2023: Trust gen secy
CONSTRUCTION WORK ON THE 70-ACRE TEMPLE COMPLEX WILL BE COMPLETED BY THE END OF 2025, THE TRUST SAID
LUCKNOW: The Ram temple in Ayodhya will open to devotees for worshipping the child deity, or Ram lalla, by the end of 2023 and the entire 70-acre campus will be completed by the end of 2025, said office-bearers of the trust overseeing the high-profile project on Thursday.
The announcement came after a meeting of the 15-member Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust with engineers and architects. The meeting was chaired by trust chief Nripendra Misra, who wrapped up a twoday visit to Ayodhya.
“By the end of 2023, the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram temple will be opened for devotees to pay obeisance to Ram Lalla,” said Champat Rai, general secretary of the trust.
“Construction work on the 70-acre temple complex will be completed by the end of 2025. Then the entire temple campus will be opened for devotees,” added Rai.
The foundation of the temple was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5 last year in a glitzy ceremony but work stalled in January after water was found under the proposed temple site. Currently, engineers are working on the foundation of the temple and it is likely to be completed by September 15. The second phase of the work is likely to start in November.
The construction committee has decided to keep the Ram Janmabhoomi campus ecofriendly. “The temple complex will have provision of rainwater harvesting so that water collected on the campus does not choke drains outside the temple. All existing trees in the temple complex will be preserved so that they provide natural cooling to devotees,” said Rai.
Security of the complex was discussed at the meeting on Thursday and it was decided that instead of cement, industrial fly ash will be used in the construction of the temple. It will be procured from Unchahar Thermal Power Plant in Rae Bareli.
Sandstone from Mirzapur and Jodhpur, marble from Makrana in Rajasthan and pink stone from Bansi Paharpur in Rajasthan will be used in the construction. “On completion of one year of Bhumi Pujan of Ram temple on August 5 this year, we are planning a media visit at the construction site,” said Rai.
According to the temple’s master plan, the campus will also have a museum, record room, research centre, auditorium, cow shed, a centre for tourists, administrative building, yagya shala and other facilities.
Construction of the temple, a decades-long demand of Hindu groups, was cleared by the Supreme Court in 2019 in its landmark verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi-babri Masjid title suit. Before that, devotees were allowed to offer prayers to the child deity under a makeshift shrine.