PM Modi cleared the way for a Ram temple by announcing the "Sri Ram Janambhoomi Tirath Kshetra"
The land assigned for a mosque in Ayodhya by the Uttar Pradesh government, in line with a Supreme Court order, is some 25 km from the temple-mosque site.
The land is in village Dhanipur in Ayodhya, on the Lucknow highway, around 18 km from the district headquarters, said UP minister Srikant Sharma.
Sources say the spot chosen by the Yogi Adityanath government is located outside the "14 kosi parikrama", or an area of some 42 km around Ayodhya town that devotees circle during religious events. Saints had reportedly asked that the mosque site be assigned beyond the parikrama boundaries.
The Supreme Court had in November said in a landmark verdict that the ownership of the site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims was entirely with Ram Lalla or infant Lord Ram. The government was ordered to set up a trust to oversee the building of a Ram temple at the site where the Babri mosque was razed by Hindu activists who believed it was built on the ruins of an ancient temple to mark the birthplace of Ram (Ram Janmabhoomi).
The court denounced the mosque demolition and ordered that five acres be given to the Sunni Waqf Board at a "prominent" alternative site for the building of a mosque.
The UP minister told reporters that his government had sent three options to the centre and this site was picked.
"This one was accepted by the centre and state cabinet has approved its allotment. There is good transportation facility to reach here and communal amity and law and order are also good," Srikant Sharma said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the morning cleared the way for a Ram temple by announcing the "Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra", a trust to oversee the temple-building. The 15-member trust will have a Dalit and no political member.