After decade-long wait, the date for laying foundation stone of Ram temple at Ayodhya will be announced in the first week of March, Ram Janambhoomi Terth Khetra Trust member and Mahant of Nirmohi Akhara Dinendra Das said in Ayodhya on Saturday.
Das, who returned from Delhi after attending the first meeting of the Trust, said the date for foundation laying will be announced in the next meeting of the Trust, to be held in Ayodhya in the first week of March.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited by the Trust members to lay the foundation stone and it would possibly be done during Navratri. The PM is reported to have accepted the invitation of the saints to lay the temple’s foundation stone.
Meanwhile, the saints have claimed that as the ‘shilanyas’ of the Ram temple had already been done in the past, now the foundation stone would be laid by the PM. However, some saints say that the foundation stone should not be laid during Navrati or on Ram Navamvi as it could disturb the pilgrims, who come in large numbers to Ayodhya.
Meanwhile, the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board will be meeting in Lucknow on February 24 to take a decision on whether to accept the five acres land given by the authorities on the outskirts of Ayodhya for a new mosque.
The Board will also decide how to use the land as there were several proposals for setting up an educational institution or a hospital along with the mosque on the spot.
