Ram temple work in full swing, completion nears

The construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is progressing, with the ground floor set to open to devotees in January. The entire temple is expected to be completed by 2025. The temple is 380 feet long, 250 feet wide, and 161 feet high. The construction work on the first floor has already begun. The temple's foundation was laid in August 2020, and the progress is being monitored by senior officials. The installation of the idol of Ram Lalla is likely to take place during a ceremony in January. The temple's architecture is designed to allow sun rays to directly fall on Ram Lalla during Ram Navami. The temple is also built to withstand an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude.

Lucknow: The construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is in full swing and the ground floor of the three-storey structure is set to be open to devotees in January, an official aware of the details said on Sunday.

A view of under construction Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on Sunday. (Deepak Gupta/Hindustan Times)

The official also said that the construction of the entire temple will be completed by 2025.

As per the details provided by the Ram Mandir Construction Committee, the temple is 380 feet in length, 250 feet in width and 161 feet high from the courtyard. The sanctum sanctorum is spread over 20 feet.

“The ground floor of the temple is almost ready. Now, final touches and some pending work are being carried out. The ground floor will be opened to devotees in January and the entire temple will be completed by 2025. The construction work on the first floor of the temple has begun,” architect and project manager Jagdish Aphale said.

The temple’s foundation was laid in an elaborate ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5, 2020. The construction started thereafter and is being constantly monitored by senior functionaries. It was recently reviewed by a team led by Nripendra Misra, chairman of the Ram Mandir Construction Committee, and comprising members from the engineering teams of Larsen and Toubro, Tata Tata Consulting Engineers and the Trust.

The trust had invited mediapersons to take a look at the progress of the temple on Sunday.

More than 500 labourers and engineers are engaged with the ground floor work. The carving of the statues on the pillars of the ground floor is also underway.

“The temple’s architecture has been designed in such a way that during Ram Navami, the sun rays will fall directly on Ram Lalla for three-four days,” Aphale said.

The official also said that the temple “will be able to sustain an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude on the Richter scale”.

The official added that all five mandaps – gudh mandap, rang mandap, nritya mandap, prathana mandap and kirtan mandap – of the temple are ready.

“On the ground floor, 160 pillars have been built. Six are made of white Makrana marble from Nagaur district, and the remaining are of pink sandstone from Bansi Paharpur – both in Rajasthan,” Aphale said, adding that 132 pillars will be built on the first floor and 74 on the second floor.