The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has urged the Central Government to adopt the model suggested by the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas for the proposed Ram Temple in Ayodhya, as this would speed up its construction, reports Economic Times.
According to the reports, the design of the Lord Ram temple has been done nearly 30 years ago in 1989 when it was placed in the Kumbh in Prayagraj. The construction of slabs for building the temple was also started then and the work of carving stone slabs and pillars has been mostly completed.
“This model of the temple has been there for nearly 30 years — since 1989 when it was placed in the Kumbh in Prayagraj — and it has reached lakhs of homes already,” VHP vice-president Champat Rai told ET. The VHP had set up the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas to prepare for the groundwork for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
“A majority of the slabs have been carved already over the last two decades according to this model of the temple and they are revered by the people,” he added.
According to VHP, adopting any new model by the trust will mean starting the temple’s work from the beginning and that would cause a delay in the of construction taking many years. The Nyas’ model of the temple has two-storeys, going 128-feet-high and 269-feet-long, is “grand and optimum”, he said.
The design of Lord Ram temple and expanse over the 67 acres of government-acquired land in Ayodhya will also determine the location of a proposed 251-metre statue of Lord Ram in the town. The proposed Lord Ram statue is pegged to be the tallest statue in the world.
A senior Uttar Pradesh government official told ET that the idea was to create a dedicated corridor for pilgrims from the temple complex till the statue on the banks of River Saryu and the statue was expected to be completed in 2022.
Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has approved Rs 667 crore for the project under which the statue, a digital museum and an interpretation centre would come up. This project is being modelled on the Sardar Patel statue project in Gujarat.
The Prime Minister is expected to lay the foundation stone of both the Ram Temple and Ram Statue projects in Ayodhya on Ram Navami on April 2, 2020 and the construction is expected to start soon after. Two senior central government officials have visited Ayodhya last week and one senior official each from the Centre and UP.
Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas chief Nritya Gopal Das may be named the president of the proposed trust, while a serving IAS officer from the UP government could become its CEO.
The planned corridor between the Ram Temple and the statue could be in the lines of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi. The work on the Rs 350 crore dedicated corridor from the Kashi Vishwanath temple to the ghats commenced on Wednesday. The PM had laid the foundation stone of the Varanasi project last year.
In a historic judgment on November 9, the Supreme Court had established that the Hindus have a right on the entire 67-acre Ram Janmabhoomi and ordered the construction of a Ram temple by a government trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya. It had also granted an alternate 5-acre land to the Muslims to build their Masjid in the Hindu holy town.
