Ayodhya, Aug 5 (IANS): Exactly two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, 40 per cent of the temple construction work is complete, according to engineers at the construction site.

The first floor of the temple is expected to be ready by early 2024.

"This is a plinth construction, and that work is progressing fast. We have simultaneously started construction of the actual temple from the 'Garbha Griha' or the sanctum sanctorum area. Pink sandstone from Rajasthan is being used for the temple walls," Jagdish, one of the five supervising chief engineers employed by the Ram Janmabhoomi trust, told reporters on Friday.

The site was opened to the media on Friday by the temple trust.

Videos taken at the site showed massive stones used in the plinth being lifted by huge cranes. The sandstone work was also visible at a distance.

In June this year, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took part in a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the 'Garbha Griha' or the sanctum sanctorum of the temple by placing the first carved stone in it.

The sanctum sanctorum will open for devotees just months before the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The total stone volume to be used for the temple project include 8 to 9 lakh cubic feet carved sandstone and 6.37 lakh cubic feet uncarved granite.

In a statement, the Ram Janmabhoomi trust, in charge of the temple construction, said white marbles from the Makrana hills of Rajasthan would be used in the sanctum sanctorum.

The temple trust said the total stone volume to be used for the temple project included 8 to 9 lakh cubic feet carved sandstone, 6.37 lakh cubic feet uncarved granite, 4.70 lakh cubic feet carved pink sandstone for the temple and 13,300 cubic feet Makrana white carved marble for the sanctum sanctorum.

Prime Minister Modi had attended the 'Bhoomi Pujan' or the foundation stone laying ceremony for the temple in August 2020 after which construction had started.