Ayodhya temple project fueling realty market

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Mar 19, 2021

The Lord Ram temple project in Ayodhya has boosted the housing and real estate market in the sleepy temple town.

While, the property rates in Ayodhya district have almost doubled following the Supreme Court’s November 2019 verdict on the vexed issue, paving way for the long awaited construction of the temple, the UP Housing Board has also proposed to anchor a mega 1,190 acres township.

Local realtor Awadhesh Singh said the land rates in Ayodhya had touched about Rs one crore per acre near the highways from about Rs 50 lakh earlier. “The land rates in the interior areas have also increased by 80-100 per cent,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, the UP Housing Board township development will come up at a distance of nearly 4 km from the proposed temple precincts and entail acquisition of land worth Rs 850 crore.

According to sources, the solar powered township will be modelled on ancient theme. The Board has tied up with Canadian township planner LEA Associates to prepare its layout and design.

Recently, UP chief secretary R K Tiwari had directed officials to expedite the ongoing projects according to the Vision Document of Ayodhya.

Besides, the government is working on a plan to bring about uniformity in the buildings in the temple town for cultivating a distinct image. In the first phase, all government buildings will be taken up, while the private building owners will be encouraged to follow suit.

After coming to power in March 2017, the Yogi Adityanath government had renamed Faizabad district as Ayodhya, while upgrading Ayodhya town as a municipal corporation for improving the civic standards and infusing more government funds.

Apart from the proposed Ram temple, there are a slew of other projects in the pipeline to develop the town as a future tourist hub with good road and air connectivity.

On August 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the temple, thus setting the tone for a speedier pace of infra and tourism projects. The temple project would span nearly 85,000 sq ft and rank among the biggest Hindu temples in the world. It will have a capacity to accommodate 50,000 devotees at a time.

The Lord Ram temple is estimated to cost Rs 1,000 crore and its construction is being done by the Temple Trust out of its own financial resources and public donations. Currently, the foundation of the temple is being prepared.