Ayodhya's Ram temple to be open for darshan in Jan 2024

Lucknow, Oct 26: The grand Ram temple in Ayodhya is likely to be opened to devotees in January 2024 after the installation of idols of the deity, on Makara Sankranti.

Around 50 per cent of the construction work of the temple has been completed and the overall progress is satisfactory.

"The temple will be opened to devotees in January 2024 after the installation of idols of Ram Lalla in the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine on the festival of Makar Sankranti," trust general secretary Champat Rai told PTI.

He said the ground floor of the temple will be ready by December next year and around January 14, 2024, idols of Lord Ram will be installed.

The Ram temple is built at an estimated Rs 1,800 crore and space will be made for idols of prominent Hindu seers. The temple, which will have 392 pillars and 12 doors, is being constructed without using iron bars. Instead of iron, copper chips are being used to join stones.

A rectangular, two-storeyed 'Parikrama' road is also being constructed, enclosing a total of eight acres of land including the area of the temple and its courtyard. In its eastern part, there will be an entrance made of sandstone.

Temples of Valmiki, Kewat, Shabari, Jatayu, Sita, Vighneshwar (Ganesh) and Sheshavatar (Lakshman) will also be constructed within a 70-acre area in the vicinity of the Ram temple.

White marble from Rajasthan is being used inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

In 2020, PM Modi had performed the bhoomi pujan for the construction of the temple.

The BJP has been pressing for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the opening of the temple is politically significant as it coincides with Lok Sabha elections in 2024.