LUCKNOW: In order to expand the Ram temple complex, the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Tuesday bought a 676.85 sq metre land adjoining the 70-acre Ram Janmabhoomi premises in Ayodhya. The temple trust bought the land for Rs 1 crore to expand the complex area to a sprawling 107 acres.
As per local sources, the temple trust general secretary Champat Rai bought the piece of land from its owner Swami Deepnarayan for Rs 1 crore. The registry of the land was done on Tuesday. The land is next to the famous Asharfi Bhawan.
BJP’s Gosainganj MLA IP Tiwari and temple trust member and RSS Ayodhya Pracharak Dr Anil Mishra were the witnesses who signed the registry papers for the land deal, said the sources.
Tuesday's land purchase was part of the trust’s plan to buy lands and old houses adjoining the boundary of the temple complex to expand its area.
It may be recalled that the design approved by the trust for the grand temple envisages the complex in an area sprawling over 107 acres instead of the 70 acres which the trust got after the November 9, 2019 Supreme Court verdict resolving the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri mosque title suit.
A senior trust member said that it was being done to bring uniformity in the temple complex boundary and execute plans for the expansion of the grand Ram Lala temple.
As per the plan, the main temple of Lord Ram with the sanctum sanctorum would be constructed in an area of only 5 acres but the trust requires a total of 107 acres of land to construct other structures of the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Complex. The other structures include a museum, library, Yajnashala, picture gallery depicting different episodes of Lord Rama’s life etc.
The trust office-bearers have already identified lands and houses in Ramkot area to be bought for the temple complex and started holding dialogues with their owners.
The trust has already collected over Rs 2100 crores during its 44-day Samarpan Nidhi Abhiyan which had commenced on January 15 and concluded on February 27.
Audit of the collected funds is being done and trust members expect that the final amount of donations may well cross over Rs 2500 crore.
Now the temple trust is contemplating to go global with Samarpan Nidhi Abhiyan so that Ram Bhakts living abroad may also contribute towards temple construction and an adequate amount could be collected to carry out its ambitious expansion plans.