Portion of Jammu's Ranbireshwar temple collapses; authorities plan stability audit of religious places

Jammu: A portion of the ancient Ranbireshwar temple here collapsed after being struck by lightning amid heavy rains on Monday morning, the Dharmarth Trust, which manages the temple, said.

There was no loss of life or injury to anyone in the incident, it added.

"It is an ancient temple in Jammu. It is 200 years old. Amid ongoing rains, the front portion of the temple collapsed due to lightning at around 9.30 am," Ashok Kumar Sharma, secretary of the Dharmarth Trust, told reporters.

He added that disaster relief personnel were on the site.

The incident prompted the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) to plan a dimension stability audit of all religious places in the city.

The decision was taken by Mayor Rajinder Sharma. Speaking to PTI, the mayor said, "There is always an issue of stability of dimensions of buildings. We will conduct a dimension stability audit of all of the religious places in Jammu."

He said instructions have been given to the JMC commissioner to conduct the audit of all temples, mosques, gurdwaras, churches and other religious places.

The Ranbireshwar temple is located on Shalimar Road near the new secretariat and was built by Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1883.