VHP to rope in 5 lakh volunteers in Karnataka for Ram temple fundraising

Bengaluru, Dec 22 (PTI) The VHP will rope in over five
lakh volunteers to start a door-to-door fundraising drive in
Karnataka from January 15 to February 27 next year to build a
grand Sri Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the outfit's international
working president Alok Kumar said on Tuesday.
Addressing reporters here, he said, "We are going to form
a lakh groups comprising volunteers will go to 27,500 villages
in the state and will be able to contact 90 lakh 'devotees'
for obtaining the 'Nidhi Samarpan' (fund for temple)."
Laying out plans for fundraising, Kumar said a committee
called Sri Ram Mandir Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan Samiti has been
formed in the state to oversee the fund collection drive.
According to Kumar, RSS functionary N Thippeswamy will be
the secretary of the Karnataka Samiti.
There will be a committee of saints to guide the Samiti.
Kumar further said the fund would be collected through
tokens of Rs 10, Rs 100, Rs 1,000.
For those who donate more than Rs 2,000 there will be a
receipt.
These donations will be exempted under 80G of the Income
Tax Act.
The VHP president said every group will consist of five
persons who will hand over money to the depositor, who will
deposit the entire money within 48 hours in designated bank
accounts.
"Every depositor will have a registered code number at
the nearest branch of one of the three banks namely State Bank
of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank.
Full transparency would be maintained in the collection,"
he added.
On the temple project, Kumar said Larsen and Toubro is
building the temple on a turn-key basis whereas Tata
Consultancy would be the engineers for the construction.
He noted that there was a challenge facing the engineers
as the temple was coming up adjacent to the perennial Sarayu
river and there is sand to the depth of 60 to 70 ft.
The three-storey stone structure with an estimated life
of 1,000 years will be built without using cement and iron
rods.
"For the stability of the structure, engineers from IIT
Mumbai, IIT Delhi, IIT Chennai, IIT Guwahati, CBRI Roorkee,
Larsen & Toubro are working on the foundation drawing," he
explained.
According to him, the temple made of stone blocks would
have a total area of 2.7 acres.
The construction area is 57,400 sq. ft. The length of the
shrine would be 360 feet with 235 feet.
It would be a three-storied structure with 5 mandaps.
It is expected that by 2024 Shri Ram Lala, the idol of
Lord Rama, shall be established in the sanctum sanctorum of
the main temple.
Along with the temple, there will be several other
projects spread over 108 acres, Kumar said adding that all of
them will be of world standard and marvellous in all aspects.
He underlined that the VHP does not consider it as yet
another temple but a medium of social, religious and spiritual
rejuvenation.
"We want to abolish all the differences related to caste,
region and linguistics with this temple to build a harmonious
society...," Kumar said.
He added that the VHP will not be collecting money from
any government, municipal corporation or any public body.
Observing that funds will be collected from the Hindu
community, he appealed to the people to donate generously.
"We will heartily accept a charity of even Rs 10 and Rs
100," the VHP president said.
On August 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had performed
the 'bhoomi pujan' of a Supreme Court-mandated Ram temple in
Ayodhya, bringing to fruition the BJP's 'mandir' movement that
defined its politics for three decades and took it to the
heights of power.
On November 9, 2019, the SC settled the fractious issue
going back more than a century and backed the construction of
a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site.
It also ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be
found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town. PTI GMS
ROH ROH

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)