AYODHYA – As the Monsoon seeped into Uttar Pradesh the newly constructed Ram Mandir and Ram Path welcomed after effects with alleged leakages, road cave-ins, waterlogging and potholes. About 15 bylanes and streets along the Ram Path were flooded after rain on June 23 and June 25 a mere 6 months after its construction. Even homes along the road went underwater.
Portions of the 14-kilometre road stretch also caved in at more than a dozen places. Reports of leakage at the temple also surfaced at midnight last Saturday, Siasat Daily reported.
Alleging negligence in the construction of the temple, Ram Janmabhoomi temple chief priest Acharya Satyendra Das had on Monday alleged that there was no arrangement for the draining out of rainwater from the temple premises after the showers on Saturday midnight and urged the temple authorities to take necessary corrective measures.
However, Ram Temple Trust general secretary Champat Rai on Thursday said that not a single drop of water has dripped from the roof in the sanctum sanctorum where Lord Ram is seated nor has water entered there from anywhere
He said water entered through all the junction boxes and the same water fell on the ground floor through conduit pipes. It appeared that water was dripping from the ceiling, whereas in reality the water was coming out on the ground floor with the help of conduit pipes, he added.
The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust functionary said the flooring of the first floor will become completely watertight and there will be no entry of water from any junction boxes. Water will not reach the lower floor through the conduit, he added.
Rai said a well-planned arrangement has been made for the drainage of rain water in the temple and park complex, the work of which is also in progress. Hence, there will be no waterlogging anywhere in the temple and park complex, he said.
He said the entire Ram Janmabhoomi complex has been rainwater-managed with zero water discharge outside. To completely store the rain water inside the Ram Janmabhoomi complex, recharge pits are also being constructed, Rai added.
Ram Temple Construction Committee Chairman Nripendra Mishra had also on Tuesday rejected the allegations of the temple’s chief priest regarding the seepage of rainwater draining out of water from the sanctum sanctorum.
“There was no water leakage but the rain water came down from the pipes fixed to install electric wires,” Mishra had said.
“I myself have inspected the building of the temple. The second floor is under construction. When the roof of the second floor will be finally constructed, then the rainwater will stop entering the temple,” Mishra had said, while talking to media persons here.
6 officials suspended
The Uttar Pradesh government has suspended six officials of civic agencies for gross negligence following road cave-ins and waterlogging at several sections of the newly-built Ram Path in Ayodhya.
The suspended officials are Dhruv Aggarwal (executive engineer), Anuj Deshwal (assistant engineer) and Prabhat Pandey (junior engineer) of the Public Works Department (PWD) and Anand Kumar Dubey (executive engineer), Rajendra Kumar Yadav (assistant engineer) and Mohammad Shahid (junior engineer) of the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam.
Aggarwal and Deshwal were suspended on the orders of special secretary Vinod Kumar on Friday. Pandey’s suspension order was issued by PWD chief engineer (development) VK Srivastav.
Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam managing director Rakesh Kumar Mishra issued the orders for the three engineers’ suspension.
The state government has also issued a notice to Ahmedabad-based contractor Bhuvan Infracom Private Limited in connection with the matter.
The PWD’s office order stated that the upper-most layer of the Ram Path was damaged shortly after its construction, showing laxity in the work done under top priority of the Uttar Pradesh government and damaging the image of the state among common people.
A further probe is underway, PWD principal secretary Ajay Chauhan said.
