It holds the distinction of being the only temple in the country to continue with the tradition of hoisting the national flag every Independence Day ever since the first Tricolour was unfurled here in the intervening night of August 14 and 15, 1947.

And now, it is getting ready to hoist the country's highest national flag, according to the government.

Come December, the iconic Pahari Mandir, which stands atop Ranchi Hill at 2,140 feet from the sea level and overlooks the state capital's biggest water body, Bada Talab, will flaunt the a 81-metre tall Tricolour.

On Thursday, chief minister Raghubar Das laid the foundation for construction of the steel and iron pole besides doing the ceremonial honours for other facilities such as revamp of the main temple, installation of automated lift and fitting of solar-enabled gadgets as part of the Pahari Mandir conservation plan.

Ranchi sub-divisional officer (SDO) Amit Kumar, also the secretary of Ranchi Pahari Mandir Vikas Samati, said they were planning to finish setting up the pole for hoisting the country's highest flag at the temple, which was once popular as Phansi Tongri as freedom fighters were hanged there by the British, by December 27.

"Expenses of around Rs 1 crore are estimated to be incurred," he said.

A Ranchi-based industrialist will provide the money.

About other development works, he said it included complete revamp of the main shiva temple with a gumbaz, construction of other structures in tune with the green building bylaws and building of a seven-feet automated escalator-cum-aerobridge.

"Our target is to finish the temple complex work by next Shravan (July-August) to avoid convenience to devotees, who rush to offer prayers during the holy month. By next Shravan, we should be able to finish temple remodelling and setting up of the gumbaz. The escalator will be in place within this time frame," informed Kumar, adding that the 7ft escalator was meant to facilitate easy darshan for the elderly and disabled people.

What about scientific viability of the projects given that Pahari Mandir is considered to be 100 years' old?

"We have roped in public sector company Mecon as technical consultant-cum-project monitoring group. It has already done soil testing and other mandatory assessments on the basis of which plans are being made in phases," the SDO said.

Deepak Aggarwal, another member of the samiti and chairman of flag and master plan committee, added that the entire mandir complex would be of three tiers.

"A 13,000sqft area as tier 1 will have rooms, hall, store rooms etc. for priests and other officials, tier II of 11,000sqft will host the refurbished abodes of existing temples of deities while the final tier, spread over 8,000sqft, will be the main temple," he said.

Ranchi deputy commissioner Manoj Kumar, also chairman of the mandir samiti, said most of the funding for the project was raised through voluntary donations and the rest came from the government coffers.