Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh): The Ayodhya mosque project was formally launched on Republic Day, with the unfurling of the tricolour and a tree plantation drive at Dhannipur, around 24 km from the Ram Janmabhoomi, exactly six months after the Sunni Waqf Board constituted the mosque's trust -- Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF).
The Ayodhya Mosque Trust project was formally started on India's 72nd Republic Day after unfurling of the national flag by Trust chairman Zufar Ahmad Farooqi and planting of nine trees by its members.
Besides Farooqi, IICF secretary Athar Hussain, trustees Adnan Farrukh, Dr Sheikh Sauduzzaman, Mohammad Rashid and Imran Ahmad, and the Imam of the Tiley Wali Masjid of Lucknow Maulana Wasifur Rehman were present for the event.
As envisaged in the project, a green area, which will have plants from all over the world -- from the Amazon rainforest to areas in Australia that report bushfires -- and from all different geographical regions of India will be developed to create awareness on the imminent threat posed by climate change.
The soil from the designated plot was taken out for testing before the actual construction begins. The soil report is expected to arrive within 15 days, following which the construction work will begin officially.
Farooqi said that besides the mosque, the foundation is mulling naming a proposed library and publication house after Ahmadullah Shah, famous as Maulavi of Faizabad, who was a leader of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Read: Foundation stone laid for Ayodhya mosque
Speaking to ETV Bharat, secretary of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Athar Hussain said that the Dhannipur Mosque project includes a hospital, a museum, a library, a community kitchen, the Indo-Islamic Research Centre, a publication house, and a mosque.
Hussain added that after the completion of the necessary paperwork, the construction of the project would be completed within a period of 30 months.
Meanwhile, local expressed happiness over the development, as they hope they will be able to avail better treatment at the proposed hospital when its complete. As of now, local villagers have to travel all the way to Ayodhya to avail treatment.
The trust was constituted following the 2019 Supreme Court verdict that backed the construction of a temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot be found for a mosque in Ayodhya in lieu of the Babri Masjid.
The blueprint of the mosque complex, which includes a hospital, was unveiled on December 19.
Read: Jagdish Chaudhary's family thanks PM Modi for Padma Shri honour
