Jan 2024 deadline set, work on Ram temple gathers pace, sanctum sanctorum likely this October

Ram Temple construction work is in full swing in Ayodhya. As per reports the Temple will be open for Public in 2024. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the temple in August 2020.

Champat Rai, general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, said, “Progress in construction work is satisfactory. Artisans, supervisors and engineers are confident they will complete the ground floor in 2023. According to the muhurat (auspicious time), prana pratishtha (ritual of idol installation) will be performed between December 21 and Makar Sankranti. It could be any date like January 1 or January 14 or a date in December.”

At the site, the main work is targeting completion of the garbhagriha where a saffron flag had been unfurled after UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath performed the Shila Pujan in June last year. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

He said once the prana pratishtha is performed, the temple will open for devotees.

Asked about the deadline for completion of the remaining structures planned in the complex, Rai said, “Have not thought about that yet.”

Stone carving work being done for the Ram Temple at a workshop in Ayodhya on Friday. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Over 550 workers are working in two-shifts daily to meet the deadline of completing the ground floor of the main temple. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

At the site, the main work is targeting completion of the garbhagriha where a saffron flag had been unfurled after UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath performed the Shila Pujan in June last year. The flag has been mounted there so that devotees visiting the temporary Ram temple can identify the location of the garbhagriha from a distance of around 150 metres.

Artist Ranjeet Mandal from Odisha is preparing statues for the temple on ‘Ram Katha’ theme, in his workshop in Ayodhya, on Friday. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Mandal had started the work back in 2013 with his his Father Late Shri Narayan Chandra Mandal. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Around the garbhagriha, 170 columns are being erected to support the beams which will be laid for the roof.

Demolition work is taking place to widen the road leading to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Rai said the ground floor will be ready by October this year. On each column, 16 idols of different gods will be carved. Around the outer wall of the garbhagriha – mandovar – will be the innermost parikrama route. In all, there will be three parikrama margs in the temple complex and the outermost will be 750 metre long. There will be five mandaps too on the ground floor.

Inside the sanctum sanctorum, the idol will be placed at such a spot that sun rays will reach the forehead of the idol at noon on Ram Navami. A successful trial for this has been done by the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee.