Temple Will Be Ready, But Devotees Must Give Ayodhya City More Time

Unofficial estimates say 5 lakh people turned up at the new Ram temple and Hanuman Garhi in Ayodhya on 1 January 2024.

Even if we assume that half of these devotees were from Ayodhya itself, that would still leave more than 2 lakh people as visitors to the temple town. Currently, estimates suggest that all lodging facilities, combined, in the town can accommodate only a few ten-thousands.

The year 2024 has begun with immense enthusiasm around the inauguration of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple, with the consecration ceremony of the new Ramlalla idol on 22 January.

As people eagerly await their chance to make a trip to the new temple, there are also legitimate concerns about the massive influx of devotees in Ayodhya on the opening day and the subsequent days thereafter.

Providing such a large number of people with places to stay, water, food, and restroom facilities, given the town's still ongoing development, was never going to be an easy task.

The Prime Minister, the temple trust and authorities, have been consistently urging devotees to avoid visiting the town on the consecration day, keeping in mind such substantial challenges.  

No question Ayodhya is undergoing a massive transformation to equip itself with quality infrastructure and facilities to host visitors from across India, yet, the town must be given more time to ready and equip itself.

Despite the enhancements made to the Ram temple and its surroundings, this core area spread across 31 square kilometres may find it difficult to cater satisfactorily to devotees if their number exceeds the expected count. A possibility that cannot be ruled out in the first few weeks after the temple inauguration.

To address this, the Ayodhya masterplan 2031 has unified a larger area in the Ayodhya district. It is this expanded area, which also includes the recently opened airport, that is currently under rapid development to accommodate the large influx of visitors.

The Present Condition

While development continues, current hotel numbers in Ayodhya stand at 250, which has been a considerable increase from just 17 in the last two years. Between these hotels, guest houses and dharamshalas of various religious institutions, about 3,500 rooms are available in Ayodhya at the time of writing.

However, given the expected demand, this number is low and will likely pose a challenge for many devotees across the country.

Given the ground situation, most hotels and home-stays have already been reserved to accommodate the expected 7,000 attendees for the inauguration on 22 January.

Additionally, the temple trust is setting up tent structures for saints of various Dharmic traditions ahead of the consecration.

A hotel owner, whose property is situated nearly 2 km from the Ram temple, says, “starting from the 15th, we are fully booked for the remainder of January, and a similar trend is evident for February and March based on the number of bookings we are receiving each day.”

He added, “the increase has been such, that on 1 January 2024, approximately 500,000 visitors congregated to seek blessings at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple and the Hanuman Garhi temple.”

“If all people wishing to visit on the day of the opening are allowed, it is going to be very difficult to accommodate them in the town,” says a tourism service owner, who is receiving such requests from numerous devotees each day.

The Town In Progress

It is crucial to acknowledge that the town, presently on the brink of transformation, has consistently found itself entangled in political controversies, hindering both development and any potential for growth.

Over the past decades, previous governments did little to develop any infrastructure in Ayodhya.

According to locals, “for all these years, we saw people sleeping on the streets during mega events in the town, as there were not much facilities.”

“The administration, and the people of Ayodhya, have participated in supporting this growth. However, the town is still newborn, and will gradually grow with facilities to comfortably accommodate the increasing number of devotees,” another hotel owner said.

He adds, “we have seen such rapid changes in this town in the last two years, which we did not see in the past two decades. People now have ample connectivity options with the railway station expansion, the new airport and widened roads in the town.”

However, several works are still underway in the whole of Ayodhya district, so even as the temple is set to open, the city is still work-in-progress.

In the coming years, a series of new hotels are set to swiftly emerge, of which around 26 hotel chains are currently establishing their facilities in the town.

Further, the government aims to develop 1,000 homestays, of which 700 have already been registered and are set to be in service soon.  

As these challenges are bound to persist for sometime, locals also suggest that visitors eager to be seek darshan of their gods may opt for a day trip, from either Lucknow, Varanasi or Prayagraj to experience the divine aura of the temple town.