Ayodhya a year later: A city, its officials trying to keep pace with pilgrim numbers

Around the city, roads are being laid, flyovers being built, a struggling traffic police, new hotels in different states of completion, restaurants that have replaced the local halwai, and brisk sales of replicas of the idol installed at the Ram Temple. Change is also visible in the menu of roadside dhabas, where idli-sambhar has replaced puri-sabji as the crowd favourite, as numbers from the South surge.

With the authorities putting the footfall between 80,000 and 2.5 lakh per day, locals whose anger at their displacement due to the Ram Temple project was believed to have contributed to the BJP’s shock defeat from the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, feel that the pace of the construction works is crawling since the elections.

Ram Prakash, who runs a “chakki” in a lane near the Ram Path from a rented accommodation, talks about his constant struggle with traffic and parking.

Ayodhya Mayor Girish Pati Tripathi says: “All the major civic works are complete, so are the major paths leading to the temple… The works that are on will also be completed soon.”

Replicas of the Ram Temple idol have been popular among devotees flooding Ayodhya.

Nripendra Misra, the chairperson of the construction committee of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, just spent three days in Ayodhya reviewing the progress of the construction work at the temple. After this, he says, he arrived at the date of March 30, 2025, for completion of the main temple, and of July 2025 for the construction of the temple’s 1.1-km long “percota (periphery)”.

The works have to keep the rush of devotees in mind, Misra told The Indian Express. Currently, the numbers are averaging more than two lakh a day as many pilgrims are coming to Ayodhya from the Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj. On Mauni Amavasya day, falling on January 29, the numbers in Ayodhya could rise beyond 3 lakh, say authorities.

“There are issues in terms of very specialized work but overall the construction is going smoothly. The security of the devotees is the first priority, and we are trying to achieve the best results without compromising on that,” says Misra.

After completion of the main temple, including the ‘Ram Darbar’ on the first floor – the idols in white marble which will be installed there are being carved in Jaipur – their next target will be the percota, Misra says.

Also coming up on the premises are seven temples dedicated to sages and saints,  “symbols of social harmony of that era”, Misra says.

After completion of the main temple, including the ‘Ram Darbar’ on the first floor – the idols in white marble which will be installed there are being carved in Jaipur.

For the pilgrims waiting in long queues for a darshan, the hustle-bustle of the construction is barely a distraction. Priya Kumari, who is in a queue outside the Hanuman Garhi Temple, says she is part of a group of 15 who have come from Vaishali in Bihar. “First we took a bath at the Kumbh and then arrived in Ayodhya yesterday… We will wait as long as it takes, but not leave without a darshan.”

The Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, inaugurated in Ayodhya in December 2023 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ahead of the Ram Temple consecration, is also under development. Officials said that while the first phase is complete, under which 2,200 metres of runway was laid, its upgrade to 3,750 metres is likely to take another year. Once completed, it would surpass the size of the Lucknow airport’s runway, officials said.

They are exploring starting international flights soon given the response, they added.

Currently, with an approximate footfall of 4,000 a day, about 10-12 flights operate daily, with almost 90% occupancy on planes coming from cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Initially, 17 to 18 flights operated daily, but the numbers have fallen since the troubled Spicejet reduced its flights from eight daily to three.

Currently, with an approximate footfall of 4,000 a day, about 10-12 flights operate daily, with almost 90% occupancy on planes coming from cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Officials are now hoping to boost the number of pilgrims staying over in Ayodhya, giving its economy a boost. While about 60 new hotels are said to have taken permission to operate in the past one year, some are yet to begin work, and others like the Taj Group’s are under construction.

The Ayodhya Mayor said that while many star hotels have come up, they are focusing now on building accommodation available at “reasonable” rates. For the Mauni Amavasya rush, for example, preparations are on for a temporary tent city that can accommodate up to 10,000 people.

Authorities put the footfall between 80,000 and 2.5 lakh per day.

Saurabh Kapoor, who owns one hotel in Ayodhya and is set to start building another near the Ram Temple, says: “The past year has been very competitive, but it is healthy. New hotels have come up but the demand has also increased. We have a rush on long weekends, special occasions. Like we are completely booked in advance for January 26 (Republic Day, falling on Sunday) and are expecting a rush on Mauni Amavasya,” says Kapoor.

Some of the major works which are pending are “Panch kosi” and “Pandrah kosi Parikrama Marg’, which is about 60% complete as per officials at the Ayodhya Development Authority. The work on the 84 kosi Parikrama Marg covering six districts is also crawling.

Among the works completed, the Authority talks of an NTPC solar plant of 40 MW and six railway overbridges.