STATE TIMES NEWS
Ayodhya (UP): The construction work at the Ram temple complex in Ayodhya will be completed by December this year, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust said on Thursday.
Nearly 75 lakh devotees have visited the temple since the consecration of Ram Lalla idol on January 22, officials said.
Anil Mishra, member of the temple trust, said that currently about 1,500 workers have been employed and more than 3,500 additional workers will be deployed soon to speed up the construction of remaining two floors of the three-storey temple building. The ground floor of the temple was built in December last year.
A meeting of the temple construction committee was held recently and it was decided to complete all the constructions in the Ram Janmabhoomi complex by the end of this year, Mishra said.
The sanctum sanctorum is on the ground floor of the temple and the court of Lord Ram will be installed on the first floor as after having ‘darshan’ of Ram Lalla, devotees will be able to have ‘darshan’ of Lord Ram’s court, he said.
The work of building the main spire and another spire of the grand temple is going on at a fast pace, while the peaks will be ready in 300 days, the temple trust member said.
There will be a total of five peaks in the temple, of which three peaks were prepared before the consecration ceremony, Mishra said, adding that the main peak is being built 161 feet high with a layer of gold on it.
The ‘parkota’ of the temple will also be ready before the arrival of monsoon to protect devotees from rain and sun, he said.
At the complex, temples of six gods and goddesses will be built along the parkota, besides temples of seven sages will also be constructed, he said.
He said that L&T, the company which is constructing the temple, is going to field an army of workers, currently 1,500, from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Temples of Hindu saints described in ancient religious texts, including Valmiki, Vashishtha, Vishwamitra, Agastya, along with Nishadraj and Ahilya, are also to be built in the complex, Mishra said.
Apart from this, the road from Tedhi Bazaar at the western end of the Ram Janmabhoomi to a post office via Ashrafi Bhawan and Vibhishan Kund will be widened by 15 metres. This road is being widened in view of the rising number of devotees, Ayodhya’s District Magistrate Nitish Kumar said.
More than two lakh devotees are visiting the Ram temple on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, whereas on other days around 1.5 lakh devotees are arriving, Prakash Gupta, officer in-charge of the Ram temple trust, said.
