UP Sunni Waqf Board announces formation of trust for construction of mosque in Ayodhya

The SC's verdict in November 2019 directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to the Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a prominent place in Ayodhya.

Dhannipur, near Ayodhya, is where the Sunni Waqf Board will construct a mosque, an area that already has 15 mosques | Photo: Prashant Srivastava | ThePrint

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh State Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSSCWB) President Zufar Ahmad Farooqui announced on Wednesday the formation of a Trust for construction of a mosque on a five-acre land in Ayodhya.

The board president said that he will be the chief trustee and the chairman of the Trust.

“We made the Trust named Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation. It will oversee the construction of a mosque, Indo-Islamic research centre, library and hospital in the five-acre land allotted to the board in Ayodhya’s Dhannipur village,” Farooqui told PTI.

An official spokesperson of the Board said, “The Trust will have a maximum of 15 trustees, with the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board being its founder trustee.”

Farooqui said the Trust will have 15 members, of which names of nine have been declared.

They are the founder — UPSSCWB through its chief executive officer, chief trustee/president — Zufar Ahmad Farooqui; trustee — Adnan Farrukh Shah, Gorakhpur; Secretary/trustee — Athar Husain, Lucknow; treasurer/trustee — Faiz Aftab, Meerut; member/trustees — Mohammad Junaid Siddiqui; Sheikh Sauduzzaman, Banda; Mohammad Rashid, Lucknow, and Imran Ahmad, Lucknow.

“The Trust will co-opt the remaining six trustees. The secretary of the Trust will also be its official spokesperson,” he said.

The Supreme Court had in November last year paved the way for the construction of a Ram Temple by a Trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a “prominent” place in the holy town in Uttar Pradesh.

The state government allotted a five-acre land in Dhannipur village in Sohaval Tehsil of Ayodhya.

Notably, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya either on August 3 or 5, both auspicious dates. The prime minister is expected to visit the holy town on August 5 to lay the foundation of the temple.