Ram, Hanuman statues to come up in Ayodhya on Diwali eve

Lucknow, Oct 18 (IANS) The UP Lalit Kala Akademi has invited short term bids for fiber statues of Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman that are to be installed in Ayodhya before Diwali next week.Lalit Kala Akademi Secretary, Yashwant Singh Rathod, said that the statues will installed on October 24, as a part of the annual Deepotsav, one day before the two-day festival commences.The Yogi Aditynath government plans to install a 151-metre statue of Lord Ram in the temple town, but there has been no progress on this front yet.The state government has only been commissioning smaller statues of Lord Ram and Hanuman which have been major crowd pullers.This year, though, the state Culture Department has asked artists for two statues of Lord Hanuman, with Ram and Lakshman sitting on each shoulder, and a second that shows Hanuman baring his heart to display images of Ram and Sita. A third 10-feet tall statue of Ram has also been ordered.These are to be installed at Ram ki Paidi, on the bank of River Saryu.
--IANS amita/vd