Next steps on Ram Temple: Digging to start soon after monsoon, first floor could be ready in 18 months

NEW DELHI: Construction company Larsen & Toubro is set to soon start work on the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, starting with digging the site to lay the foundation. The first floor of the temple is likely to come up within the next year and a half.
The digging work, which will start with the monsoons soon getting over, could take about 4-5 months while building the foundation could take another 6-8 months as per the current rough estimates, ET has learnt. It would take another 6-8 months to complete the first of the three floors.

The complete temple is expected to come up over 36-40 months, with the second and third floors taking another 18 months to complete and finishing touches requiring another four months.

The temple trust will first seek an official sanction from the Ayodhya Development Authority for the layout plan of the temple, for which a fee of nearly Rs 2 crore will be paid, trustee Anil Mishra told ET. He said most of the stones needed for the temple were already carved and ready.

“The trust will also arrange for more stones for the temple as the size of the temple has nearly doubled from the original plan. About 20% more stones will be required. L&T is already on the job at the temple site and their machines will soon arrive for the digging up of the site for laying the foundation,” Mishra said.

The Temple would be made largely of the Bansi Paharpur stone. Mishra said L&T had sent the site’s soil for testing and would begin the work as soon as the report came in to determine how deep the foundation should be laid for stability of the structure. “L&T and the Sompura family will work together on the project,” Mishra said.

Ashish Sompura, who has prepared the revised design of the temple, told ET: “We are the architects; L&T will construct the temple.”

L&T did not respond to an email seeking comment on the manpower required to complete the project and the expected cost.

The Sompuras’ revised plan for the temple makes it much bigger at 57,000 square feet than the originally planned one, more spacious than the Somnath Temple and any of vast Swaminarayan temples. A dome has been added to each of the sides and the height, width and length of the temple have been increased from the initial plan.