About 15,000 bank cheques with a face value of Rs 22 crore, collected by the Vishva Hindu Parishad for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, have bounced. According to an audit report of Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, a trust set up by the Centre for the construction of the temple, the cheques bounced due to lack of funds in bank accounts or some technical error.
Trust member Dr Anil Mishra said banks are working to solve the issue of technical errors and they are asking people to make donations again. Among the cheques, around 2,000 were collected from Ayodhya. The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) had collected donations during a countrywide campaign between January 15 and February 17. Around Rs 5,000 crore was collected during the drive, though the final figures are yet to be declared by the trust.
Earlier in December 2020, the General Secretary of the temple trust had said that the temple in Ayodhya will be built using domestic funds collected from the general public through a mass contact programme as its trust doesn't have required approvals for accepting donations from abroad. Champat Rai had then said that the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Shetra is going to start the mass contact and contribution campaign across the country for the construction of the temple.
"Voluntary donations from Rambhakts will be accepted for which coupons of Rs 10, Rs 100 and Rs 1,000 will be made available," he had said. In order to maintain transparency in the financial dealings and transactions, the trust has printed 4 crore coupons of Rs 10 denomination, 8 crore coupons of Rs 100 and 12 lakhs coupons of Rs 1,000 denomination, he had added.
Rai had also said for the construction of the temple, no foreign funding can be collected as the trust doesn't have enough necessary approvals while CSR funds can be considered for adjoining buildings of the temple. He further said no target has been fixed for collecting funds and no estimate has been made of expenditure for the construction of the temple.