Month-long celebrations for Ram Temple opening: Champat Rai

AYODHYA: Champat Rai, general secretary of the Shri Ram Teerth Kshetra Trust, has said that grand celebrations for the opening of Ram Mandir will start in December 2023 and will continue till Makar Sankranti in January 2024.

"As per plan, the idol of Ram Lalla will be installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple on Makar Sankranti (January 14) in 2024," he told reporters on Friday.

Rai's statement comes a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya will be ready by January 1 next year.

In his address at a rally in Sabroom in Tripura on Thursday, Shah had hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said: "Rahul baba, listen from Sabroom that a mammoth Ram Mandir will be ready on January 1, 2024."

Champat Rai said that by the end of 2023, the construction at the sanctum sanctorum is expected to be completed.

"We have set December 2023 as the deadline for construction of the temple and January 2024 to open it for devotees," he elaborated.

It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had performed the 'Bhoomi Puja' for the construction of the temple on August 5, 2020.

During his visit to Ayodhya on October 23 last year, after offering prayers to Ram Lalla at the makeshift temple, the Prime Minister had reviewed the progress of the construction work.

Trust officials have said that the plinth work has been almost completed.

They said a rectangular, two-storey parikrama road will be constructed, enclosing a total of eight acres of land including the area of the temple and its courtyard, and in its eastern part, there will be an entrance made of sandstone.

White marble from the Makrana hills in Rajasthan will be used inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

The marble-carving work is in progress and some of the carved marble blocks have already been brought to Ayodhya.

Besides the construction of the temple, demolition of shops and houses for widening the road leading to the famous Hanuman Garhi mandir is also underway.

The Yogi Adityanath government is also racing against time to ensure completion of all developmental projects in Ayodhya, including a new railway station and an international airport.