Patna: The Bihar cabinet on Tuesday sanctioned Rs 882.87 crore for the integrated development of Maa Janaki’s grand temple at Punaura Dham, believed to be the birthplace of Goddess Sita, in Sitamarhi district. The grand temple will be developed at Punaura Dham on the lines of a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya.
The decision to sanction the fund was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “In order to carry out integrated development of Maa Sita’s grand temple at Punaura Dham, the birthplace of Goddess Sita, on the lines of grand Ram temple built at Ayodhya, the cabinet sanctioned Rs 882.87 crore for the construction of the temple,” Cabinet Secretariat Department’s Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) S Siddharth told reporters here in a post media briefing.
Giving the breakup of Rs 882.87 crore, he said that Rs 137 crore would be spent on the development of the old temple and the premises while Rs 728 crore would be spent on tourism related development work besides Rs 16 crore would be spent on carrying out comprehensive maintenance for 10 years.
Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) would implement the project, he added. Notably, the government has recently constituted a nine member “trust” christened as “Shree Janaki Janm Bhumi Punaura Dham Mandir Nyas Samiti” at Punaura village in Sitamarhi district.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had on June 22, 2025 unveiled the final design of the development of a grand Janaki temple. A total of 17 acres of land was available at Punaura Dham temple premises besides the process is currently underway to acquire 50 acres of additional land to develop the place on a grand scale. The construction of grand temple would not only fulfil the people’s wish but would also help promote tourism in the state.