1st, 2nd Floors Of Ram Temple Will Be Completed By December 2024: Official

Temple Construction Committee Chairman Nripendra Mishra said on Thursday that the construction of the three-storey Ram temple in Ayodhya will be completed by December this year. The huge temple complex will also have other structures. Mishra said "we are all following the limits" adopted by Lord Rama while conducting the work.

Ayodhya is gearing up for the temple consecration ceremony on January 22 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend it. Over 7,000 people have been invited to the ceremony by the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust. "Right now, the ground floor has been constructed, the first and second floors will be completed by December 2024," Mishra said when asked about the progress of the construction work.

Asked about the challenges in the construction work, he said, "Challenges come every day. But, I think, the challenges solved themselves. Next morning, we will see its own solutions." Champat Rai, general secretary of the trust, "has given a clear instruction that any such work limitation shall not be against the rules, principles and life of Purushottam Ram". "They are very clear. Whatever tax has to be submitted to the government, it (has to be done). So we all follow that 'limit'," Mishra said. The chairman of the temple construction committee said that they hope the devotees will be satisfied with the quality of the construction and its longevity. They expect it to last at least 1,000 years, so "our responsibilities have also increased," Mishra said. Regarding the choice of idol, he said that the decision will be shared by Rai. Three sculptors are making such idols and one of them will be installed in the temple.

In an emergency meeting recently, members of the trust graded the three statues on a scale, he said, adding that Rai would share the decision "in due course". "It is clear that the trust will take all three idols. And, in future, how those idols will be used, the trust will decide. One of the three idols will be installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple," he said.
Asked about the crowd he is expecting after the temple opens to the public, he said, "I estimate that in the next 4-5 months, at least 75,000 to one lakh people will visit it every day." The Supreme Court in a 2019 judgment cleared the way for the trust to build a Ram temple at a disputed site in Ayodhya and directed the Center to allot an alternative five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque. At a "famous" location in the holy city of Uttar Pradesh.The court ruled that 2.77 acres of the disputed land where the 16th-century Babri Masjid was once demolished would remain with the central government receiver and be handed over to the trust within three months of the judgment for construction of the temple.