Cheques worth Rs 22 crore, donated towards building the Ram Temple at Ayodhya, have bounced even as the Ram Janma Bhoomi Teerth Khestra Trust, which is overseeing the construction work, has so far received more than Rs 5,400 crore in donations.
An office bearer said on Monday that the trust received Rs 3,500 crore in donations during the January – March 2021 donation campaign alone. “As many as 1,500 cheques have bounced owing to some technical issues...many of the people who had given those cheques have contacted us for fresh donations,” the official said.
According to the trust’s office bearers, the idols of ‘Ram Lalla’ would be installed at the sanctum-sanctorum on January 24, 2024. “The entire complex of the temple will be completed by the end of 2025,” an official said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had laid the foundation stone of the Ram temple’s sanctum-sanctorum earlier this month.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party, wanted the Ram temple to be finished before the 2024 general elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the temple in August 2020.
The timing of possible opening of the Ram Temple for the devotees assumes significance as the next general elections are scheduled to be held in May 2024 in which the Modi government will be seeking a third term in office.
(Published 20 June 2022, 16:50 IST)
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