Ram Temple Donations: The temple was opened to the public on January 23.
Over 25 lakh devotees have visited the grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya after its consecration on January 22 and donated more than Rs 11 crore as offerings, the temple trust said.
It has been 11 days since the temple was opened to the public and Rs 8 crore were deposited in the donation boxes as offering while Rs 3.5 crores were donated through cheques and online payments, Prakash Gupta, office in-charge of the temple trust, told news agency PTI.
The temple's sanctum sanctorum, home to the new Balak Ram idol and the Ram Lalla idol, has four donation boxes for devotees to deposit offerings. They are placed along the 'darshan path' where devotees walk to offer prayers to the deity in front of the sanctum sanctorum.
Apart from this, 10 computerised counters have been placed to make digital donations. Here, the Ram devotees can make offering through cheques and other online payment methods.
Once the counter closes in the evening, a team of 14 workers, including 11 bank employees and three the temple trust workers, count the offerings deposited in the donation boxes. The whole process, from donations to the counting of the amount, is done under the CCTV surveillance.
Ayodhya is gearing up for more devotees to reach the Ram Temple in the next few weeks as the biting cold in North India subsides. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday held a meeting with senior officials from the state and district at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi complex control room to ensure the safety of the devotees that reach the temple.
"With the improvement in weather conditions and a reduction in cold, we anticipate a surge in tourists and Ram devotees in Ayodhya. We must take special care to facilitate easy darshan of Ram Lalla for all devotees," he said.
Yesterday, Civial Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated non-stop flight services connecting Ayodhya to eight other cities across India. SpiceJet airlines has announced direct flight to Ayodhya from Darbhanga, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Jaipur, Patna, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
The much-awaited temple of Lord Ram Lalla was inaugurated last month after a grand consecration ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several dignitaries including celebrities and businessmen.
While the first phase of the temple has been built inside the 70-acre complex, the second phase is expected to be completed by December 2025.
(With agency inputs)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)