The construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya is progressing according to the plan, and devotees are expected to be allowed to pay obeisance to the deity by 2023 end, sources in the Ram Temple Trust said on Wednesday.
The entire temple complex will, however, be ready by 2025, they added.
Sharing details of the grand project, a culmination of the BJP’s decades-long promise of building a temple at the place where Lord Ram is believed to have been born in Ayodhya, they said the main temple would have three floors and five ‘mandaps’.
The length of the temple would be 360 feet, width 235 feet and the height of each floor would be 20 feet, they said.
“The construction work of the temple is progressing according to the plan and it is estimated that by the end of 2023, devotees will be able to get the opportunity of Lord Ram’s darshan,” a source said.
LS polls in 2024
The development assumes significance as the next Lok Sabha elections are due in the first half of 2024. If the work goes in accordance with the plan, then the ruling BJP will receive a shot in the arm before hitting the campaign trail.
The sources added that there would be 160 columns on the temple’s ground floor, 132 columns on the first floor and 74 columns on the second floor.
The top of the sanctum sanctorum would be 161 feet from the ground floor and would be constructed with Rajasthan stone and marble.
The temple design was finalised considering the changes that had taken place in the last three decades and the aspirations of devotees, the sources said.
Trust formed
Following a Supreme Court verdict paving the way for the temple’s construction at the site, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the formation of the Shri Ram Janm Bhumi Teerth Kshetra Trust on February 5, 2020 in the Lok Sabha for the temple’s construction and management.
Nripendra Misra, former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, is the chairman of the construction committee. The temple’s construction began following a religious ceremony attended by Mr. Modi at the site last year.
Sources said that before starting the construction activities, the main challenge before the Trust was to finalise the temple’s design and drawings for longevity on the pattern of most ancient temples. The trust decided that steel would not be used in its construction.
Heritage structures
In the master plan, they said, special focus had been given to the conservation and development of the heritage structures like ‘Kuber Tila’ and ‘Sita Koop’.
The other structures include pilgrim facilitation centre, museum, archives, research centre, auditorium, ‘gau shala’, ‘yagya shala’, administrative building and ‘sant niwas’ among others.