Uttar Pradesh government approves plan to install 251-metre-tall statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya

LUKCNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday approved the plan to install a 251-metre-tall statue of Lord Ram at Ayodhya. The statue would be taller than the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's Statue of Unity in Gujarat, which is 183-meter-tall.

During a meeting of high-power committee, Chief Minister Adityanath said that the state of Lord Ram would be installed on the 100 hectares of land near River Sarayu in Ayodhya. The chief minister added that the construction of the statue will start soon. The Uttar Pradesh CM also asked the committee members to prepare a comprehensive plan for the overall development of Ayodhya. The meeting was attended by Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, Cabinet Minister Suresh Khanna, Cabinet Minister Satish Mahana, Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey and officers of several other departments.

Yogi Adityanath said during the meeting that a digital museum based on Lord Ram theme, interpretation centre, library, parking and food plaza will be the part of overall development of Ayodhya. Uttar Pradesh government is set to sign an MoU with the Gujarat government for technical assistance and guidance in developing the statue and "Rajkiya Nirman Nigam" will be set up to install the one-of-a-kind statue. The state government will seek help from from IIT Kanpur and Nagpur-based NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) for site survey, environmental assessment, feasibility studies etc.