The man in charge of the workshop for stone-carving in Ayodhya for the Ram Temple, Nagendra Upadhyaya, is harassed these days. For the first time in seven years, he has been given a specific deadline by the VHP brass-complete 75 percent of the job by March 31 next year. His options are limited: Recruiting more workers and doubling the shifts. “Without these steps we cannot achieve the target,” he says. “The haste is natural because the Dharma Sansad during the Kumbh Mela next month will announce the date for the construction of the temple and we have to be ready.” Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s statement, the ruling NDA’s win in the Lok Sabha, all have lent a new urgency to the job.