By RITU JHA
STAFF WRITER
rjha@thnt.com
OLD BRIDGE — A $5-million Hare Krishna temple is being proposed for a site on Route 34 opposite Canyon Woods Drive.
The project is being planned by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
The society’s application to the township is in the final stage of preparation, said Mrugesh Shroff of Lincoln Park, an ISKCON member.
Shroff said the group will submit the paperwork to the township’s Architecture and Engineering Department by early next month.
Shroff said the temple, to be built on a 6.3-acre tract the society has bought, would be different from other Hindu temples in that it would be fully enclosed and would not have a traditional outdoor courtyard. The building also would have a dome to give it the look of an Indian temple, he said.
Shroff said the temple would be used to teach Hindu literature and yoga and would also house a prayer room.
“The architectural design of the ISKCON in Old Bridge will be similar to the ISKCON in Ahmedabad, India,” said Kishore Joshi, who is working on the project and has designed other temples.
Joshi said the Old Bridge temple would be 2 stories high with a total area of 30,000 square feet. The temple area would be on the second floor. The prayer hall, literature — or vedic — classroom, yoga room and visitors room would be on the first floor.
The temple would be built with a sandstone facade and a marble and granite interior. It also would house a “golden throne” for statues. Images in the temple would include the founder of ISKCON, A.C. Bhaktivedanta, and several Hindu gods, Joshi said.
The construction materials would be imported from overseas, Joshi said. It took two years to design the structure.
The plan includes 140 parking spaces.
The total cost of the building is estimated at $5 million, Shroff said. The construction schedule “all depends on the amount of funds raised to build the temple,” according to Joshi.
At present, ISKCON uses the Marathi Vishwa Community Center in Laurence Harbor for its weekly meetings.
Posted by Administrator
in Media Watch
0 comments