Muslim devotees gather to offer 'Jummah' prayers at a mosque, in Ayodhya.(Representative image)
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: Suspended TMC legislator Humayun Kabir may have hit the headlines over his plans to lay the foundation stone of Babri Masjid in Beldanga in West Bengal but in Ayodhya the proposed Dhannipur Mosque is yet to see the light of the day even six years after the Supreme Court verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Title case.
According to the judgement of the apex court, the Sunni Waqf Board was allotted five acres of land at Dhannipur village, about 25 kilometres from Ayodhya town, for the construction of a mosque.
An Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust was formed for the Mosque construction, which had announced that the Mosque complex would also have a museum and a community kitchen. The construction work, however, could not start owing to one or the other reasons. One of the reasons for the delay was rejection of the map of the proposed mosque by the Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA).
According to the sources, the Fire department refused to give the NoC for the construction of the Mosque and raised several objections.
Sources said that a revised map has been prepared and the same was likely to be submitted with the ADA later this month. The construction work may start once the map after the ADA gives its clearance.
Local Muslims in Ayodhya, however, did not appear to be too enthusiastic about the Dhannipur Mosque.
Iqbal Ansari, who was among the main Muslim plaintiffs in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Tittle suits, said that the Muslims were not unduly worried over the delay in construction of the Dhannipur Mosque.
‘’There is no need to construct a mosque at Dhannipur. Ayodhya has places of worship for all religions,’’ he said on Saturday on the occasion of 33rd anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition.
An office bearer of the Ayodhya Wakf Committee also reportedly said that a majority of Muslims from Ayodhya, was unlikely to visit the Dhannipur Mosque, which is quite far from Ayodhya, to offer prayers. He, however, said that the Mosque construction would begin after the ADA clearance.
Meanwhile no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in Ayodhya and elsewhere in the state on the 33rd anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition.