AYODHYA: Members of the Supreme Court-appointed mediation panel on the Ram temple dispute arrived in Ayodhya on Tuesday, a day before the scheduled dialogue.The Awadh University's engineering campus, where the proceedings will take place and where the three members - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Justice Kalifulla and advocate Sriram Panchu - are also staying till Friday, was fortified with police deployed at every few metres. The campus itself was barricaded and nobody was allowed near the auditorium. The members met on Tuesday to discuss the schedule for the next three days. While the meeting was to begin at noon, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar reached Ayodhya only at 2.10 pm. He flew down in a chopper from Lucknow.On Tuesday, the Faizabad administration asked 25 litigants in the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute to remain present at Awadh University on Wednesday, where the mediation panel will begin talks.The administration issued directives to litigants on behalf of the SC panel. Counsel of litigants will also be present. In its letter to the Faizabad administration, the panel sought tight security at the venue and for the 25 litigants and their lawyers.While elaborate arrangement has been put in place to facilitate hearings, residents of Ayodhya are split over the mediation will yield results.Anees Amin, a tailor, scoffed at the mention of the panel, saying they had seen many such initiatives over 25 years. "I have no faith in this apex court committee. The decision will be deferred once again," he said.Surendra Kumar of 'Kumar Sweets' near Hanuman Garhi expressed hope the panel would be able to find a middle ground to end the dispute, but added if litigants were not on common ground after so many years, he did not understand how they would agree within a month.

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