Ayodhya Temple

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IAS officer to head cell on Ayodhya

By Neena Vyas

"At the kumbh mela in January last, the `dharam sansad' organised by

the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had virtually issued an ultimatum to the

Government to hand over the disputed land in Ayodhya to the trust run

by it for starting construction of a Ram temple by March 12, 2002 or

face the prospect of ``sadhus and sants'' forcibly occupying the

land."

 

NEW DELHI, OCT. 23. The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee,

today took the first step towards setting up an Ayodhya cell in his

office when he signed a file clearing the name of an IAS officer Mr.

Shatrughan Singh of the Uttaranchal cadre, as the man who would head

it.

 

The cell will be set up as soon as it is notified, official sources

indicated. It will be part of the Prime Minister's Office located in

the Cabinet Secretariat and is expected to be operational in a few

days.

 

Officials indicated that the cell would monitor the Ayodhya

``negotiations''. The Prime Minister has already indicated that

``negotiations'' are taking place although he has repeatedly refused

to disclose the names of the people negotiating and has not said on

whose behalf they are discussing the matter.

 

At the kumbh mela in January last, the `dharam sansad' organised by

the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had virtually issued an ultimatum to the

Government to hand over the disputed land in Ayodhya to the trust run

by it for starting construction of a Ram temple by March 12, 2002 or

face the prospect of ``sadhus and sants'' forcibly occupying the

land.

 

More recently, after a meeting with some VHP leaders, the Prime

Minister was reported to have assured them that the matter would be

settled by March 2002 and that he would be setting up an Ayodhya cell

in his office to monitor the progress.

 

Today, some senior officials of the Uttar Pradesh Government met the

Union Home Secretary, Mr. Kamal Pandey. The Home Ministry let it be

known that it would firmly remind the State Government that security

arrangements at the makeshift temple at Ayodhya must be foolproof.

 

On October 17, a few senior VHP leaders, including Mr. Ashok Singhal

and Mr. S.C. Dixit, broke the security cordon to go up to the sanctum

sanctorum of the makeshift temple in violation of the Supreme Court

allowing devotees to have `darshan' from a specified distance. Since

then, the CRPF has lodged an FIR in relation to this incident and the

State Government has strengthened security arrangements at the site.

 

But today, the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Kalyan

Singh, is reported to have said that the breaking of the security

cordon by the VHP leaders had the prior approval of the Chief

Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh.