Trust to expedite construction of Ram temple main structure

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and the Ram temple construction committee will hold their joint meeting by the end of this month or in the first week of September

LUCKNOW: The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust wants to expedite construction work of main structure of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya to meet the new December 2023 deadline to open the temple’s the sanctum sanctorum, people aware of the matter said.

Lucknow, India, August 05, 2022: Two years after PM Modi did the Bhoomi Pujan of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, a media visit to survey the construction was organized at the Ram Janmabhoomi site, on Friday, August 05, 2022. (HT Photo)

“Even the Centre and the state government want the Ram temple to come up by December 2023 as the next general election is due in early 2024,” said a prominent seer of Ayodhya.

“In this election, the BJP in all likelihood will showcase completion of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya as its major achievement and fulfilment of its core poll promise,” he added.

Around 40% of the construction work of the temple is over and work related with laying pillars will be expedited after the monsoon, according to the Trust.

Chief minster Yogi Adityanath laid the first pillar on June 1 with Vedic rituals but the task of laying the remaining pillars is yet to gather momentum at the sprawling Ram Janmabhoomi campus in Ayodhya.

This issue will be taken up at the next joint meeting of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and the Ram temple construction committee proposed by the end of this month or in the first week of September, a person familiar with the matter said.

As many as 166 pillars will be installed on the ground floor of the Ram temple, 144 on the first floor and 82 on the second floor.

Stress will be laid on expediting the work at the next joint meeting of the temple construction committee and the Trust, said a Trust member.

Nripendra Misra, chairman of Ram temple construction committee, will preside over the meeting.

According to a member of the Trust, if the deadline of December 2023 to complete sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Mandir and open it for devotees is to be met, then construction work of main structure of the temple will have to be expedited.

The temple will be 161 feet high from the floor of the sanctum sanctorum to its peak. The Trust is operating three workshops at Pindwara village in Sirohi district of Rajasthan for carving stones for the Ram temple.

White Makrana marble stones from Makrana tehsil in Nagaur district of Rajasthan will be used in construction of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, according to Champat Rai, general secretary of the Trust.

Larsen and Toubro is carrying out construction work of the temple while Tata Consulting Engineers is the project’s management consultant