The fundraising drive for the Ram Mandir’s construction in Ayodhya has raised Rs 1511 crore from across India, said officials with the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, the government-appointed trust for the temple construction. The details on the money collected were given by the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Treasurer Govind Dev Giri on Friday.
For the Ram Mandhir construction, the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra had initiated a nationwide effort to collect funds since January. The trust is being aided in its efforts by lakhs of karyakartas associated with the Sangh Parivar. Workers associated with Sangh, namely the RSS, the VHP and the BJP are going door to door seeking funds for the temple.
Govind told ANI that they aim to reach 4 lakh villages and 11 crore families from across India as part of the donation drive. The donation drive began formally on January 15 and is expected to go on till February 27.
The treasurer said that till now Rs 1511 crore has been deposited in the account of the trust. The trust is collecting donations through three bank accounts with State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of Baroda (BoB), and also providing Unified Payment Interface (UPI) options for making donations. On the ground, the Sangh Parivar workers are issuing coupons of Rs 10, Rs 100 and Rs 1000 which can be bought, the proceedings go to the trust, claim members of the Sangh Parivar.
Donations in cash up to Rs 20,000 are accepted but donations above that limit are accepted in the form of a cheque. The Sangh Parivar says their system of collecting donations is transparent.
The trust has also developed an app to keep track of the flow of money, the district in-charges are tasked with uploading data of those who donated for the temple, bank details, details of the receipt issued after making donations and details those who deposited the money to the bank to the app.