Ram Temple Trust, RSS offshoots to begin massive donation drive

Lucknow: The Ram temple trust and affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have put in place elaborate systems to manage the massive door-to-door donation drive that starts from today for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya that seeks to reach out to 500,000 villages and 110 million families.

In Uttar Pradesh, on a block level, 35 teams of about six people each will be deployed, with one deposit collector for four teams. Joint general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Venkata Koteswara Rao told ET that an app has been developed for deposit collectors across the country for a smooth collection of funds. A code has been provided to each deposit collector to log into the app and record the daily collection.

The depositors will be required to submit their daily collected donations through the period of the drive from January 15 to February 27 into accounts of the trust opened for the drive in three banks – State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank. For convenience in auditing, each deposit collector will submit funds in one branch only throughout the campaign. Each donor will be provided with a pamphlet in English, Hindi and other Indian languages that will contain a brief introduction of the Ram Janmabhoomi issue as well as details of the design of the temple, said Rao.