Express News Service
LUCKNOW: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in coordination with Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust started off the massive one and a half month long donation drive on Friday from Ayodhya to raise funds for the construction of Ram temple.
A delegation of senior VHP leaders and members of Shree Ram Janmbhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust also called on President Ramnath Kovind who made a contribution of Rs 5,00,100 for the construction of the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The delegation which met the president included Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) international working president Alok Kumar, treasurer of the Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust Govind Dev Giri and former bureaucrat Nripendra Misra, head, temple construction committee.
In the temple town, the donation drive, formally known as Shree Ram Janmbhoomi Ram Mandir Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan, was started simultaneously from 400 locations.
At Maitri Mandap, Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust member Dr Anil Kumar Mishra launched the drive by donating Rs 51,000 towards the temple construction.
According to Dr Mishra, the 42-day donation drive which was launched on Friday would continue across the country till February 27. Dr Mishra claimed that over a lakh volunteers had joined the drive so far.
The delegations to seek donations would visit five lakh villages across India and approach 11 crore families and 55 crore people.
“Donations can be accepted through four mediums in the form of coupon worth Rs 10, Rs 100, Rs 1000. Besides, cash till Rs 20,000 will be accepted by the delegations but beyond Rs 20,000, donations will have to be made through cheque,” said Dr Anil Mishra.
Moreover, a list of celebrities of the country has also been prepared. “Celebrities would also be approached by the delegations involved in donation drive,” he added.
Those who came forward to make donations towards the temple construction of Lord Ram included members of Muslim Rashtriya Manch, a wing of RSS and others.
One of the main litigants of Ayodhya title suit Iqbal Ansari, who represented his father Hashim Ansari after his demise in Supreme Court in connection with the case also offered to make donation towards the temple construction.
It is going to be one of the biggest fundraising campaign by Hindu religious and other organizations to collect funds for the construction of Ram Mandir.
The construction of the grand temple of Lord Ram at Ayodhya is estimated to cost around Rs 1,100 crore, of which around Rs 300-400 crore will be the cost of building the main temple structure.
