Lucknow: After collecting a record Rs 500 crore in just 17 days, the Ram Janambhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has launched the second phase from Monday to collect donations from 11 crore Hindu families across the nation for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Briefing media, the Trust General Secretary Champat Rai said that authorized persons from the VHP and RSS will visit about 5 lakh villages and towns in the country till February 27 with coupons of Rs 10,100 and Rs 1,000 denominations to collect donations.
“We have distributed coupons worth Rs 1,000 crore for the door to door campaign across the country. We expect that the donations will swell to the tune of more than Rs 1,500 crore by the end of February,” he said.
In the first phase, the Trust had accepted donations only above Rs 2,000 through cheques and bank RTGS by issuing receipts. “We got a nationwide good response from Ram Bhakts. People in large numbers donated whole-heartedly during the first phase of Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan,” he added.
With the launching of the second phase, the Trust aims to collect the total cost of the construction by February 27. The revised cost of the Ram temple is Rs 1,500 crore after changes in the design. The cost may go up further as the Trust has decided to develop the 67 acres of the temple complex further.
“We will launch the donation drive again if more funds are required. Ram Bhakts will not compromise in making the temple and entire complex first of its kind in the world,” said Prakash Gupta, the Trust Ayodhya Office In-Charge.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed to take the Republic Day Ram temple tableau to Ayodhya and then to 74 other districts of the state. “Let people see the grand Ram temple model and have a glimpse of the ancient Ayodhya city,” the CM told his officials.
