No steel, cement may be ditched too — IAS retiree Nripendra Misra on making Ram temple ageless

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New Delhi: No steel will be used in the construction of the Ram Temple at the birthplace of Lord Ram in Ayodhya as it has a limited life span. The temple may be constructed without cement either to ensure the construction lasts for centuries. Trees that find mention in ancient texts will be planted in the area to replicate the pattern that existed there originally.

This information has been revealed in a rare interview by Nripendra Misra, a low-profile former civil servant who happened to hold some of the most high-profile assignments through his career, including serving as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

A 1967-batch Uttar Pradesh-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Misra also worked closely with two chief ministers of the state  — Kalyan Singh of the BJP and Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party.

He was appointed chairman of the Shri Ramjanmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust, which is overseeing the construction of the temple, last year. The trust was set up by the government following the Supreme Court’s decision on the Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute in November 2019.

Misra is known to be a backroom boy and doesn’t give any interviews. However, he spoke on a wide variety of issues in a detailed interview published in the latest special edition of the weekly magazine Panchjanya.

When asked how the trust is going to ensure that the temple at Ayodhya should last for 500-1,000 years, Misra said, “We are not using steel and some people have said the lifespan of cement is limited to around 100 years, so we still haven’t decided whether we should use cement.

“The ‘mix’ to be used in the foundation is being decided upon by various experts and companies such as Tata Consultancy. L&T has also done an agreement with Indian Institute of Technology-Chennai (sic) as they have experts on material management. We are also studying ancient temples,” he added. 

“We have given the responsibility to the largest construction company of India. Tata Consultancy also has at least 2,000 engineers.”

Also Read: ‘Tough taskmaster’ Nripendra Misra endeared himself to Modi, but not to all civil servants

‘A justified step’

Misra said trees will be planted on around 70 acres of the area as part of the temple construction plan. 

“There has been a demand that those specific trees should be planted that have found mention in Valmiki’s Ramayana and Tulsi Das’ Ramcharitmanas. National Botanical Garden, Lucknow, had done research on this particular subject a few years ago,” he added. “We would try our best to honour the sentiments of the nation and execute this plan accordingly.”

Replying to a question about how he recalls 6 December 1992 — when the Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished — Misra, who was a serving civil servant in Uttar Pradesh at the time, said it was “a justified step”. 

“I had become chairman of Greater Noida three months before December. When this incident happened, I wasn’t present in Lucknow. But earlier, also, incidents related to Ayodhya had happened. In a sense, everyone had that belief that a Ram temple has to be reconstructed here,” he added. 

“This was a justified step. That is why whoever would evaluate this would evaluate it in the context that it was the nation’s desire to build a temple here… the dream of the people has been realised.”

The author is a research director of Delhi-based think tank Vichar Vinimay Kendra. He has authored two books on RSS. 

Also Read: Ayodhya’s Ram temple will take 3.5 years to build, cost Rs 1,100 crore, says trust treasurer

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