Foundation stone for Ayodhya mosque to be laid on Republic Day; blueprint this week

While the preparations comprising technical evaluations of the site and soil ahead of the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya are underway, the foundation of Ayodhya mosque complex is likely to be laid on January 26, next year.

The foundation of the mosque would be laid on five acres land allotted to UP Sunni Central Waqf Board mandated by UP government at Dhannipur village under Suhelwa tehsil in Ayodhya district. The upcoming mosque is around 20 km away from the Ram Janmabhoomi premises.

As per highly-placed sources, the mosque trust, better known Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) – is set to unveil the blueprint for the proposed mosque and other constructions on December 19. The blueprint of the mosque and other facilities, including multi-speciality hospital, community kitchen and library has been finalized by mosque’s chief architect Professor SM Akhtar.

The mosque is proposed to have the capacity to house 2000 namazis at a time and the structure will be round in shape. As per IIFC secretary Athar Hussain, the new mosque would be a bigger structure than the demolished Babri mosque.

The multi-speciality hospital would be one of the main structures on the complex. It would be in sync with the architecture of the mosque, adorned with calligraphy and Islamic Aayats. It is likely to be a 300-bed unit where free treatment would be provided to suffering.

The Supreme Court on November 9 last year had paved the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid site at Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a "prominent" place in the town in Uttar Pradesh.

The Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992 by "kar sevaks" who claimed that the mosque in Ayodhya was built on the site of an ancient Ram temple.