Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has donated his 30-month salary for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, reports said.
According to IANS, Maurya handed over the amount to the general secretary of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Champat Rai, and member Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati, on Saturday.
“I am a Ram devotee first and the deputy chief minister of the state later,” the minister was quoted as saying.
Maurya also sought the cooperation of the entire nation for the construction of the temple as “five generations have sacrificed their lives in the temple movement”.
Last week, President Ram Nath Kovind had contributed Rs 500,100 for the Ram temple construction.
On Sunday, Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj, treasurer of Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Nyas, said the grand temple will be built in around three years and the construction cost of the project will exceed Rs 1100 crore.
"The main temple will be built in three to three and a half years and will cost Rs 300-400 crore. The expenditure on the development of the entire 70 acre land there will exceed Rs 1100 crore," he said.
The apex court on November 9, 2019 had ruled in favour of the construction of a Ram temple a the disputed site in Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot an alternative five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a "prominent" place in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh.