As Ram temple nears completion, offerings by devotees increase

Ayodhya : Donations and offerings by devotees at the makeshift Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya have increased manifold ever since the construction of the first phase of the main temple began.

Prakash Gupta, in charge of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust’s office, said, “After construction work of Ram Mandir began on August 5, 2020, offerings to Ram Lalla every month rose to between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.”

The Trust counted Rs 60 lakh from Ram Mandir’s ‘daan patra (collection box)’ in September which was Rs 4 lakh more over the collections in August. The Trust used to count the collection manually. Now, it is not possible for them to manually count the offertory to Ram Lalla. The Trust has started using cash counting machines.

“Earlier, counting of offertory used to take place on the fifth and 20th day of each month. Now, this work is being done daily,” said Gupta. Apart from donations at Ram Mandir, the Trust is also getting daily donations from devotees through various modes, including online, cheque and cash which is around Rs two lakh per day.

According to an estimate, the Trust is getting a monthly donation of more than Rs one crore. The Trust has also started receiving donations from NRIs at its bank account in New Delhi. A devotee from UAE has reportedly donated Rs 11,000 and another devotee from Australia has donated Rs 21,000.

“As the bank account for receiving donations from foreign countries is in New Delhi, exact information about the collection is not available,” said Gupta. Last month the Union Home Ministry had registered the Trust under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

According to general secretary of the Trust, Champat Rai, the Trust has Rs 3,500 crore in its three bank accounts in Ayodhya which was collected through donations from across the country till February this year. It may be pointed out that the 44-day nationwide fund collection campaign of the Trust 'Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Ram Mandir Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan' was launched on January 15, 2021.