Ram Lalla idol will be relocated on March 24: Trust gen secy

The idol of Ram Lalla will be shifted from the makeshift temple to another location on the Ram Janmabhoomi campus here in the early hours of March 24 with full Vedic

The idol of Ram Lalla will be shifted from the makeshift temple to another location on the Ram Janmabhoomi campus here in the early hours of March 24 with full Vedic rituals.

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“Ram Lalla will be relocated to a new place in the wee hours on March 24. From Navratra (starting on March 25), devotees will be able to worship Ram Lalla at the new location,” Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra trust general secretary Champat Rai said to reporters here on Saturday.

A new platform is under construction near the Ram Janmabhoomi campus gate where the idol will be shifted from the makeshift temple and placed in a pre-fabricated structure. The move is meant to facilitate the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Devotees will be able to worship the deity from a much closer distance than the present 50 feet, Rai said.

Asked about announcement of the date for starting construction work of Ram temple, Rai said: “Much work is to be done on the premises (Ram Janmabhoomi) before construction work starts.”

“Testing of the soil (of Ram Janmabhoomi) taken from 80-90 feet below the earth will be carried out at IIT Roorkee and Kanpur, levelling of land and outlining of the campus are some of the pending works,” he added.

“The next meeting of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra will take place in Ayodhya on April 4,” said Rai, who is also the Vishwa Hindu Parishad international vice-president.

The first meeting of the newly constituted Trust was held in New Delhi on February 19.

Rai and Anil Mishra, a member of the Board of Trustees, also inspected the ongoing construction work on the Ram Janmabhoomi campus on Saturday for shifting of the idol of Ram Lalla.

District magistrate Anuj Jha inspected the ongoing construction work, which is likely to be completed by March 17. Security at the new site will be beefed up before shifting the idol.

Trust zeros in on Ram Kacheri for its Ayodhya office

The Ayodhya office of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra trust will be opened at Ram Kacheri, a temple near the Ram Janmabhoomi campus.

Champat Rai, general secretary of the trust, and Anil Mishra, a member of the Board of Trustees of the trust, on Saturday inspected Ram Kacheri and another building near the Ram Janmabhoomi for selection of the new office of the trust in Ayodhya.

“This building (Ram Kacheri) is in good shape. We do not need to do much here,” said Champat Rai.

The New Delhi office of the new trust is operating from the residence of senior Supreme Court lawyer K Parasaran, who is also member of the Board of Trustees the trust.

The first meeting of the trust was conducted at Parasaran’s Greater Kailesh residence, New Delhi, on February 19.