A portion of an around 180-year-old mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur was demolished on Tuesday as it was allegedly encroaching upon the Banda-Fatehpur Road in the city. While the district administration said that a notice had been served to the Noori Jama Masjid to remove the encroached structure, the development came at a time when the mosque committee had approached the Allahabad High Court seeking relief.

“The committee has filed some petition in high court but it is yet to be listed for hearing,” Avinash Tripathi, Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Finance and Revenue, Fatehpur, told The Indian Express. “The structure which has been demolished today was built in the last three years and the main building of the mosque is intact,” he clarified.

According to Tripathi, the Public Works Department (PWD) had issued notices to 139 people, including shopkeepers, house owners and the mosque committee, in August to remove the structures built by encroaching upon the road. The PWD sought to remove the encroachments to “begin work for strengthening the road and constructing drains”, he added.

“The PWD had marked the encroached section of all the buildings. All those served notices removed the encroachment in September. The mosque committee also demolished the encroached parts of the shops built adjacent to the mosque. The committee had assured to remove the structure which is part of the mosque, but they did not make it,” ADM Tripathi said.

The masjid committee members were not available to speak on the matter.

The PWD had sought help from the administration to provide security while the alleged encroached structure of the mosque was being demolished. Adequate police force was there to maintain law and order at the spot, Tripathi said, adding that there were no protests while the demolition took place.

Source: The Indian Express

BDST: 1342 HRS, DEC 11, 2024
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