Will take over 5 years for Ram temple, says Ayodhya workshop chief

AYODHYA: Even if decks were to be cleared today for the Ram temple in Ayodhya, it would take more than five years to finish work on the shrine in accordance with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s designs, the manager of the temple workshop at Ramsewakpuram said.

With eight hours of work put in every day for the past 28 years in carving the stones for the two-storey Ram temple, only half the work has been completed, with just the ground floor ready. Work on the temple began in 1990. “Even after the stones are cut and carved, it will take at least five years to put them all together at the spot. The foundation will have to be laid, the stones transferred and cemented to shape. White cement will then have to be put on the entire structure,” said Annubhai Sampura, manager of the temple workshop for the past 30 years. He refuted the popular notion that the temple stones are being made in such a way that they can be put together as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to quickly construct the temple.

As of now, 106 pillars out of the 212 that are to be made are ready. These lie stacked up at the temple workshop in Ayodhya, exposed to the vagaries of weather. “Half of the pillars are ready, walls for the sanctum sanctorum are done and the marble chaukath for the temple is also done. Around 50% of the work still remains with 106 more pillars, the shikhar and the roof to be built,” the 78-yearold Annubhai Sampura said.

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If money and will are put behind the construction, this work can be completed in two years with a larger workforce,” he added.

Chief of VHP’s Awadh prant, Sharad Sharma, added, “No fixed time frame can be given. But when the situation arrives, we will put in the maximum number of labourers and carvers to finish the work.”

It was in 1984 that shilapujan (foundation ritual) for the temple was performed by the VHP. After a donation of one rupee and twenty five paise from devotees, a total of Rs 8 crore was received for the construction, VHP office-bearers said.

Currently, only one carver, Rajnikanth, and four labourers are working on the temple stones at the workshop. “I take at least two months to engrave 2.5 square-feet of stone. I am carving the ceiling stone these days where every five stones are of a similar design. The design on the pillars is all the same. Only if more people are put on the task, can it see completion,” he said.

“When it began, there were 150 carvers along with hundreds of labourers who were working on the stones coming from Rajasthan. The money flow too was consistent then. In the first 10 years, work was taken up quickly. Then, over time, it took a backseat and the number of artisans and labourers dwindled,” Sharma said.