Supreme Court asks Centre to consider facilities at Ram Janam Bhoomi site

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to consider the facilities feasible in the present scenario that could be provided to pilgrims at ' Ram Janam Bhoomi' site near the disputed structure at Ayodhya.

The apex court said that the Centre will file its response within four weeks after taking note of the basic minimum facilities that have been sought for pilgrims in an application filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.

A bench, comprising Justices A R Dave and Amitava Roy, asked Swamy to make a representation about the facilities required in a tabular form.

The BJP leader submitted that pilgrims, who are devotees of Lord Rama, are deprived of even basic facilities like drinking water and toilets and face difficulty due to inadequate arrangement made by both the Centre and Uttar Pradesh Government.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh said that the Centre would consider the plea made by Swamy.

Swamy had said the status quo order passed by the apex court in 1996 was limited to prohibit building of any structure at the disputed site.

In his application, he has sought an order from the apex court to "ameliorate the lot of millions of Hindu pilgrims who make the pilgrimage to the site of the 'Ram Janam Bhoomi' at Ayodhya, to have a 'darshan' and perform 'pooja' in honour of 'Sri Ram Lalla Virajman'."