Full throttle ahead to make Ram temple in Ayodhya an engineering marvel

What is common among nuclear scientists, experts from premier institutes such as the IIT and a 56-layer specially designed concrete platform? They are all key features of the under-construction Ram Janambhoomi temple in Ayodhya.

In addition, granite stone blocks from Karnataka and Telangana have been used in building the temple’s plinth. These were some of the details put forward in a progress report issued by the Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra.

According to the report, experts had to be brought to build a platform of 56 layers to strengthen the foundation of the temple. Over 1.84 lakh cubic metres of “stratified culturo-civilisational debris and old loose soil” was removed, creating a pit, after which professors of IIT-Chennai suggested a specially designed concrete mix to fill it.

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The report also stated that such a platform will help the structure stand for another 1,000 years.

The professors suggested that the concrete mix should be poured layer by layer—each layer would be a foot thick, which would then be compressed to 10 inches by a 10-tonne roller. Fifty-six such layers were to make the foundation of the sanctum sanctorum, while 48 layers were set aside for the rest of the area. This was named the ‘land improvement by soil strengthening’ system.

Over these 56 layers of concrete, another 1.5 metres of concrete called PCC RAFT was built “using multi-batching plants, boom placer machines and mixers”. “A Professor from IIT-Kanpur and one senior engineer associated with a nuclear reactor also contributed at this stage of RAFT construction,” the report noted.

When asked why the construction process was so complicated, Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra General Secretary Champat Rai said that there was not much explaining to do. “This is an engineering marvel, and this temple has to be the best in the world,” Rai told DH over the phone.

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While it took six months (between April 2021 to September 2021) to build the 56 layers, the PCC RAFT was completed in four months: from October 2021 to January 2022.

Plinth work, which started in January this year, is expected to go on till September. Over 17,000 granite blocks from Karnataka and Telangana are being used to heighten the plinth, the report said. Building for the sanctum sanctorum has started and about 4.70 lakh cubic feet of carved pink sandstones from the hills of Bansi-Paharpur area in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan will be used to build it. Parkota carved sandstone, Makrana white carved marble and uncarved granite are also being used.

In November 2020, Nripendra Mishra, who is the chairman of the Construction Committee, formed an expert committee comprising directors of IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, and NIT Surat, as well as professors from IITs of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, Director of CBRI Roorkee, as well as senior engineers from L&T and TCE.

The construction was inaugurated by PM Modi in August 2020.