In its manifesto released on Friday for the Bihar Assembly elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) promised that if the alliance gets the opportunity to come to power again, it will develop ‘Punaura Dham Janaki Temple’, the birthplace of Goddess Sita located in Sitamarhi district, as a ‘world class spiritual city’.
This announcement has come at a time when Union Home Minister Amit Shah had laid the foundation stone for the construction of the grand ‘Mata Janaki Temple’ in Punaura Dham in the month of August. This temple is being developed on 67 acres of land and is being constructed on the lines of Ram Temple located in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
The manifesto said, “If NDA gets the mandate again in Bihar, Sitamarhi, the sacred birthplace of Maa Janaki, will be developed as a world-class spiritual city named ‘Sitapuram’.” Every year a large number of devotees visit this site, which is located about five kilometers west of Sitamarhi district.
The Bihar Cabinet had approved an amount of Rs 882.87 crore on July 1 this year for the overall development of the temple complex. According to officials, out of this, Rs 137 crore will be spent on the development of the old temple and its courtyard, while Rs 728 crore will be spent on the development of tourism related projects. Additionally, Rs 16 crore will be spent on extensive maintenance works for the next ten years. This project will be implemented by Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC).
The state government has constituted a nine-member trust named ‘Shri Janaki Janambhoomi Punaura Dham Temple Trust Committee’ for this project. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had released the final design of the temple development in June.
The government has appointed a Noida-based private firm as ‘design consultant’ for the project. This is the same firm that had also provided master planning and vastu consultancy services for the ‘Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Mandir’ in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
According to officials, beautification work of Maa Janaki Kund will also be done under this project. Along with this, facilities like ‘Parikrama Path’, ‘Yagya Mandap’, museum, auditorium, cafeteria, sports complex for children and Dharamshala will also be developed in the temple complex.
