Six months after the grand opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the first round of showers has caused heavy waterlogging in the temple town raising questions over its swift and massive infrastructure overhaul.
The newly built Ram Path road in Ayodhya - which leads to the Ram Temple - has suffered several cave-ins since seasonal rain hit the temple town.
After potholes came up on the 14-km stretch, authorities said they immediately got the road repaired to avoid any inconvenience for the devotees. The Yogi Adityanath government has suspended six civic officials over "gross negligence," officials said.
Ayodhya mayor Girish Pati Tripathi said that efforts to flush out the rainwater were launched soon after the waterlogging was reported.
Leakage was also reported at the temple after heavy rain at midnight last Saturday. The Chief Priest of the Ram Temple, had on Monday claimed that rainwater that was leaking from the roof of the temple was collecting inside the complex. He also claimed that there was no arrangement to flush out the rainwater from the temple premises.
Rejecting the leakage claims, Champat Rai, General Secretary of the Temple Trust, however, said "not a single drop of water" dripped from the roof, nor had water entered the Sanctum Sanctorum or 'Garbha Griha'.from anywhere. He also said that "excellent arrangements" have been made at the temple to drain rainwater.
Mr Rai said that while it appeared that water was leaking from the roof, it was in fact coming from a conduit pipe due to ongoing construction work on the first floor of the temple.
Nripendra Misra, chairman of the Ram Temple Construction Committee, had earlier said that the alleged water leakage at the Ram Mandir was "expected because the Guru Mandap is exposed to the sky" as the construction work was still on, but the water never entered the 'Garbha Griha'.
"I am in Ayodhya. I saw the rainwater falling from the first floor. This is expected because Guru Mandap is exposed to the sky as the second floor and completion of Shikhar will cover this opening. There is no drainage in the Sanctum Santorum because all the Mandaps have measured slope for clearance of water and the water in Sanctum Santorum is manually absorbed," Mr Mishra had told ANI on Monday.
The opposition leaders, however, were quick to pounce on the BJP, alleging that there was large scale corruption in the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. ''Even the places of worship are sources of loot for the BJP,'' UP Congress President Ajay Rai said.
The Ram Temple in Ayodhya was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22. Considered the birthplace of Lord Ram, Ayodhya's Ram Temple is one of the holiest sites in Hindusim.
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