Ayodhya Ram Temple Construction: The groundwork for the construction of the grand Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya has hit another roadblock as a test conducted by the team of technical experts has found that structural piles are not of the desired quality, reports the Indian Express. These piles are made to bear the entire weight of the temple, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust was quoted as saying by the report. The trust is now trying to find alternative ways.
According to the report, the technical experts include people from some of the most renowned institutes like the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) in Roorkee, the IITs, NITs, and engineers from companies like Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T). The experts faced the first hurdle in form of loose sand at the construction site of the proposed temple. This is because of water flowing on the west side of the temple whose construction work is being facilitated by Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. The Trust was formed following the verdict of Supreme Court in the matter.
The foundation design has about 1,200 cement concrete piles with a thickness of around 1 meter in diameter and will be placed 20 to 40 metres below the ground. Over these will rest plain cement concrete raft, according to the design finalised and submitted by the L&T.
“We did testing as per the drawing that had 1,200 pillars. Experts put some of these pillars 125 feet below the ground level and then tested them after 28 days, the minimum required time for testing as per the engineering norms. An earthquake situation was created after putting a weight of 700 tonnes on them. Test piles did not give the desired results. The readings on the machines were much different from what we were expecting. This is why we could not give a go-ahead for the construction work,” general secretary of the trust Champat Rai told The Indian Express.
Talking about the problems faced by experts, Rai said that water and loose sand are present close to the place where pillars are to sand. This is because the Saryu river is flowing on the west side of the garbhagrih.
Experts are now finding ways to stop the water from reaching the temple as it is only then a strong foundation can be made. “It is not possible to have the desired strength of the structure on loose sand. Experts are having discussions on how to increase the strength of foundation on loose sand,” he said. Rai told the newspaper that a retaining wall will be made underground to ensure that water does not reach near the temple after changing course.
According to Jagdish Aphale, the project manager of the Trust, some alternatives are being discussed as experts have reached the conclusion that only piling and rafting will be not sufficient to hold the weight.
