Looking at May to begin mosque construction near Ayodhya: Trust

The IICF was supposed to build the mosque and community facilities, including a hospital, a community kitchen and an Indo-Islamic cultural research centre on the five-acre plot. Speaking to The Sunday Express, Zufar Farooqui, chief trustee of the foundation and also chairman of the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, said, “It is very difficult to tell a timeline for the project. We are expecting that by the end of May next year, construction work will start.”

Farooqui said a “construction committee” has been formed in Mumbai to oversee collection of funds for the project. “In order to collect more funds, we have created a construction committee in Mumbai which is headed by Haji Arfat Shaikh. The committee is working towards collection of funds. In October, we declared the design. We also plan to open a field office at the site in February next year,” he said.

Haji Arfat Shaikh is a BJP leader based in Mumbai. Asked if enough funds have been collected for the construction work to begin in May, Farooqui said, “I can’t give you an approximate amount. Our new bank account for collection in Mumbai and Maharashtra will get activated in the next few days. We have substantial commitments. We have some commitments from some people and entities for donation and funds, but I can’t give you an amount at this point of time.”

Sources in the IICF told The Sunday Express that “approximately Rs 50 lakh has been collected through fundraising for the mosque and other projects”. In July this year, the IICF had announced that it had deferred the construction of the hospital at the site in view of paucity of funds.

IICF spokesperson and member Athar Hussain said, “The construction committee has some people who came forward to help us with the project and collection of funds. Our chief trustee (Farooqui) had visited Mumbai and some parts of Maharashtra for collection of funds and through his efforts, this committee has been formed. We are making the mosque more in line with other mosques in India  — with minarets and a dome at the centre. We will have to get the designs redrawn and submit it to the Ayodhya Development Authority for nod.”