Ram Mandir Construction To Begin On Makar Sankranti In 2020: Report

The construction of the Ram Mandir is likely to begin with grand shilanyas ceremony on the occasion of Makar Sankranti next year, a media report said on Monday. The Supreme Court has given three months to the Centre to forma a panel and devise a strategy for the future temple plan. In a landmark judgment, the top court cleared way for the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya on Saturday. In its 1,045 pages long verdict, the top court handed over the disputed 2.77-acre land to deity Ram Lalla and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in a prominent place in Ayodhya.

According to a Times of India report, the stakeholders want the Centre to formulate the Mandir plan as early as possible. In fact, the report said that the government is likely to finish the construction of the temple till 2022. The tentative completion deadline coincides with the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Soon after the verdict was pronounced, the VHP had said that 60 per cent of pillars and beams for Ram temple are ready.

The VHP on Sunday said the Centre should take swift action on the Supreme Court judgment paving the way for a Ram temple in Ayodhya and demanded the structure be built as per the design prepared by architect Chandrakant Sompura on its request. Renowned temple architect Sompura was asked to prepare the design in 1989 by then VHP chief Ashok Singhal and it was circulated among devotees across the country, the organisation's working president Alok Kumar told PTI. "We expect the new temple to be build accordingly," Kumar added.

Exercising its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the top court bench - is headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi with Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer - directed that the Central Government or Uttar Pradesh government should allot land measuring 5 acres to the Sunni Central Waqf Board for construction of the mosque within Ayodhya. It also directed the Centre to formulate a scheme within three months for setting up of a trust with a board of trustees to construct the temple.