Futuristic Ayodhya mosque will have grand hospital

The design of a mosque and a hospital to be built on a five-acre land in Dhannipur village in Ayodhya was unveiled on Saturday in Lucknow. The Uttar Pradesh State Sunni Central Waqf Board had formed the trust, Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), to construct the mosque and other utilities on the plot. Prof SM Akhtar of Jamia Millia Islamia, who joined the programme through video conferencing, displayed the designs of the mosque and the 200-bed hospital that will come up at the site.

The first phase of the project, for which the foundation stone is likely to be placed early next year, will have a hospital along with the mosque. The trust plans to expand the hospital in the second phase. The name of the mosque is yet to be decided, and it will not be named after any emperor or king. "The design echoes modern architecture of mosques around the world," the IICF Trust said in a statement.

"The hospital will provide state-of-the-art facilities, much needed in the nearby area and population, focusing on malnourishment in children and expectant mothers. The building will also house the trust office and publication house focusing on research and publication house of Indo Islamic cultural-literature studies," the trust said. "Professor Pushpesh Pant, consultant and curator for the archives and museum at the site, mentioned the need for a good museum to showcase the joint accomplishments and struggles of the Hindu and Muslim communities in India," the IICF Trust said in the statement.

After a protracted legal tussle, the Supreme Court had on November 9 last year ruled in favour of the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in 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 holy town in Uttar Pradesh.