THE construction of the ground floor of the three-storey Ram temple in Ayodhya will be completed by Decemberend, and the consecration ceremony is expected to take place on January 22, temple Construction Committee Chairperson Nripendra Mishra has said.

 

In an interview to PTI, he also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take part in an event related to the ‘pran pratishtha’ on any day during January 20-24. The final date is yet to be communicated by the Prime Minister’s Office, he said. Mishra also said work is underway to design an apparatus that will be installed on the ‘shikhar’ of the temple, which will make sun rays fall momentarily on the forehead of the deity in the sanctum sanctorum on the day of Ram Navami every year. It is being built in Bengaluru and its design is being overseen by scientists, he added.

 

The Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, and an institute in Pune have jointly created a computerised programme for this, Mishra said. The Supreme Court in a 2019 verdict had paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a“prominent” place in the holy town of Uttar Pradesh.

 

The court had ruled that the 2.77 acres of the disputed land where the demolished 16th century-era Babri Masjid once stood will remain with a Central Government receiver and be handed over to the trust within three months of the ruling for the construction of the temple.The Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust will formally invite Prime MinisterModi for the consecration ceremony during which the idol of Ram Lalla will be installedin the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. The temple trust has decided to start the process of theconsecration of Ram Lalla afterMakar Sankranti on January14, and observe a 10-day ritual of Ram Lalla’s ‘pranpratishtha’ (consecration). The Ram temple is likely toopen for devotees on January24 after the consecration of Ram Lalla idol, Mishra, amember of the trust, hadsaid in June.