Ahead of bhoomi pujan, Ayodhya DM hands over five-acre plot for mosque

AYODHYA: Ahead of ‘bhoomi pujan’ ceremony for Ram Temple, Ayodhya district magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha handed over the five-acre land mandated by the Supreme Court in lieu of Babri Masjid to Sunni Waqf Board on Saturday. A delegation of Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) – the trust formed recently by the Sunni Waqf Board for construction of the mosque at Dhannipur village in Faizabad – met the Ayodhya district magistrate at his residence on Saturday.
The delegation was led by Sunni Waqf Board’s president Zufar Faruqi and chief executive officer Sayyad Mohammad Shoib.
“The district magistrate formally handed over the possession of land for the mosque to the Trust members by giving the certified copy of revenue record (‘khatauni’),” Shoib told TOI.
Shoib also said the members of the trust would meet soon to decide on the future course of action.
In its verdict on November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court had mandated handing over of five-acre land to the Sunni Waqf Board at a prominent place in Ayodhya in lieu of the demolished structure in Ayodhya. In February 2020, the UP government announced allotment of land at Dhannipur village in Sadar tehsil of Faizabad in Ayodhya district, about 25 kilometres away from Ram Janambhoomi premises.
On July 29, the Sunni Waqf Board announced the names of nine members of the trust to take up the construction of the mosque.