(Image source from: indiatvnews.com)
The construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya commenced with a grand Bhoomi puja last year on August 5th. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the event and the Ram Mandir committee was flooded with donations from all the corners of the country. The construction of the Ram Mandir will be completed in 2025 but the devotees will be allowed to visit the temple and offer their prayers from December 2023. The devotees will be allowed into the partially built structure. The temple authorities are keen to complete the sanctum sanctorum and the first floor of the Ram Mandir by December 2023.
The bricks that are collected by Kar Sevaks may not be used for the construction of the temple. 70 percent of the carved stones at Karsevakpuram will be used for the construction of the temple. The major temple of Ram Mandir will have a stoned structure and hence the bricks will not be used for the main temple. These collected bricks will be used for the temple complex. The Ram Temple Construction Committee is headed by Nripendra Misra, the former Principal Secretary for the Prime Minister of India. The mining of pink sandstone which was stalled due to the court's orders resumed recently. The Ram Temple Construction Committee also said that there would be no steel used for the structure of Ram Mandir and instead copper will be used.
The devotees will be allowed from December 2023 right before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The construction process also got delayed as the sand from the premises is not suitable to construct a grand structure. The Ram Temple Construction Committee spent months evacuating the soil from the site. A total of 70 lakh cubic feet of soil is evacuated from the premises of the Ram Mandir construction site. The total estimated budget of Ram Mandir is said to be Rs 1000 crores and it is spread across 110 acres. The trust received Rs 3000 crores through donations from India.
By Siva Kumar