Ayodhya's 'eco-friendly' Ram Mandir to open for devotees by end of 2023

The gates of Ayodhya's 'eco-friendly' Ram Mandir are all set to be thrown open for devotees by the end of 2023. The temple will be built on an eco-friendly theme and the entire construction of the 70-acre temple premises is expected to be complete by the end of 2025, the Ram Janmbhoomi Theerth Kshetra Trust informed on Thursday.

The decision was taken after a meeting of included 15 members of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, including engineers and architects. The meeting was headed by the Ram Mandir Trust's chief Nriprendra Misra, who was on a two-day visit to Ayodhya.

Speaking to the media, Ram Mandir trust general secretary Champat Rai said, "By the end of 2023, the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram temple will be opened for devotees to pay obeisance to Ram Lalla. Construction work on the 70-acre temple complex will be completed by the end of 2025. Then the entire temple campus will be open to devotees".

Eco-friendly Ram Janamabhoomi campus

The Ram Mandir will also have provisions for rainwater harvesting while all existing trees inside the temple premises will be preserved in order to keep the surroundings cool and fresh.

The committee has decided that industrial fly ash - to be procured from the Unchahar Thermal Power Plant in Rae Bareli.- will be used in the construction of the temple instead of cement. Sandstone will be procured from Mirzapur, Jodhpur, marble from Makrana in Rajasthan, and pink stone from Bansi Paharpur in Rajasthan. According to the plan, the temple will have a museum, record room, research centre, auditorium, cowshed, a centre for tourists, administrative building, yoga shala, and other facilities.

Currently, construction work on the foundation of the temple is going on at full throttle and will be completed by the end of September. Whereas, the second phase of the construction will start in November.

Fulfilling the three-decade-long Ram Janmabhoomi movement, PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Ram Janamabhoomi in 2020 by placing a metallic plaque at the base of the temple site. The grand ceremony was performed in the presence of 135 saints, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, UP Governor Anandiben Patel, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, and other eminent dignitaries.