Ram Temple construction gains momentum; 50% work completed

The Ram Temple construction work was likely to gain further momentum after prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to the site to inspect the progress of the construction work on Sunday and the Temple would be opened for the devotees in January 2024.

According to the office bearers of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Khestra Trust, which was overseeing the Ram Temple construction work at Ayodhya, the bulk of the construction work would be completed by the end of December next year. ''About 50 percent construction is complete,'' Trust general secretary Champat Rai said in Ayodhya on Tuesday.

''Our target is to complete the construction work by the end of December 2023 and hand over the site to the Ram Jnmabhoomi Mandir Nirman Samiti,'' said an official of the company engaged in constructing the Ram Temple on Tuesday.

''The work at the sanctum-sanctorum of the Temple is almost complete.....the stone work on the ground floor is currently going on,'' the official added.

The Trust had earlier said that the idols of Ram Lala would be installed in the sanctum-sanctorum in January 2204 after which the Temple would be opened for the devotees. The other construction activities would however continue and the entire Temple complex was expected to be ready by 2025.

Modi, who visited Ayodhya to take part in the Diwali celebrations on Sunday, paid a visit to the construction site also and spoke to the engineers and artisans.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) as well as the BJP wanted the Ram Temple to be completed before the 2024 general elections. The prime minister had laid the foundation stone for the Ram 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.