Lucknow: The Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the grand Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22 marked the end of years of waiting for the devotees as their Ram Lalla got his due place inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple complex.
The religious pilgrimage to Lord Ram’s birth place has just begun. Days after Ram Lalla’s consecration, the city administration is still facing tough time in managing the crowd surge at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Hiccups-free and highly-successful gathering of largest number of celebrities under one roof on January 22 drew a lot of praise for the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government.
But, this is not all.
The Uttar Pradesh administration has drawn a roadmap for renovation of as many as 300 temples across all the 75 districts of the state.
As per a leading daily, the government has allotted Rs 50 lakh funds for each of these temples for their refurbishment and renovation. The government has also earmarked a fund of Rs 150 crore for the makeover of all these temples, the daily reported. In case of big temples, a fund of up to Rs 2 crore each has been allocated.
The makeover of centuries-old temples into ‘clean and opulent places of worship’ speaks a lot about Yogi government’s priorities and preferences.
Notably, the Chief Minister’s statement on the floor of the House on Wednesday, about the need for restoration of Kashi and Mathura as the worship places of the majority community, drew everyone’s attention.
The work to renovate 300 temples was reportedly undertaken soon after the formation of Yogi government 2.0, and today, many temples have again ‘come back to life’ and buzzing with activity and influx of devotees.
Some of the temples which underwent makeover include the Bateshwar Dham temple in Agra, the Aamani Bab temple in Aligarh, the Taragarh temple in Hathras, the Laxmi temple in Mathura, and the Hathiram Baba temple in Ayodhya, among others.
A detailed plan was chalked out by the administration to rule out any lapses. A list of temples, in need of renovation, was shared by people’s representatives to the state administration. Construction companies and architects then worked in tandem to restore the temples to their original glory.
(IANS)