More land needed to create township for the Ram Temple: Architect Sompura

After the Supreme Court's ordered the construction of a Ram Temple on the disputed site in Ayodhya, the main architect of the temple, Chandrakant Sompura said on Sunday that more land is needed to create a township for the Ram Temple.

Sompura, who made the design for the Ram Mandir nearly 30 years ago, said to ANI: "The construction of the temple itself would not take up much space, but for the construction of the township, we need more land."

"Right now, we have included a hall for food, a bhog shala, a Pujari quarter, and also a place for visitors to stay. However, we need to construct hospitals and hotels, so that it will be a township of its own and attract people from all across the country and even foreigners," he added.

Sompura also said that the temple will consist of nearly 250 pillars, and that each pillar will contain nearly 16 statues of Ram.

"The Ram Lalla statue in the 'garbhagriha' would be around 7 feet tall," he said.

Speaking on the changes from the earlier designs of the temple, Sompura stated that the changes will be made only if they are in accordance with the 'Shastra', as the concept of Shastra is essential in the construction of any Hindu temple.

While speaking on the estimated cost of the project, Sompura said: "Earlier the construction material used to cost Rs 50, now the same material costs around Rs 700. So, the completion of the project would cost nearly Rs 50-60 crores, excluding the development cost."

Sompura said that 40% of the work is done till date and the completion of the Ram temple will be wrapped up by 2022.

The Supreme Court on November 6 ordered setting up a trust to construct Ram Temple and also directed the government to give 5-acre land to Muslim parties to build a mosque in Ayodhya, thus ending a decades-long dispute.