Mosque allows demolition of its wall to ease traffic flow, hands over land to BBMP

Bengaluru, Oct 23: Masjid-e-Askari, a famous Shia mosque located near Johnson Market in Bengaluru, not only allowed demolition of its compound wall to facilitate the widening of Hosur Road but also handed over 1000 sq ft of its land to the BBMP as per request.

Mir Ali Jawad, the president of the Masjid-E-Askari and Shia Graveyard Managing Committee, said: "The compound wall of the mosque was causing a lot of problems for traffic moving between Brigade Road and Hosur Road. For the common good and to help the public, we have demolished the wall to ease traffic on the road."

The committee has already parted with 4,000 sq ft of graveyard land. "With the portion of the mosque given today, we have given 5,000 sq ft for the road-widening," Jawad added.

At a function held for a formal handover of the land and for demolishing the mosque wall on Sunday, Mayor R Sampath Raj welcomed the decision of Shia Muslims to part with the land of the mosque. The BBMP began the demolition of the wall in the presence of the mayor and the local MLA, N A Harris.

"This is one of the major roads in the city and lakhs of commuters use it every day. After the road-widening, the traffic congestion will be reduced to a great extent. We greatly appreciate this gesture of the committee," Sampath Raj said.

Jawad said: "We requested the BBMP to name Vellara Junction after Sir Mirza Ismail who was a great administrator and had contributed greatly to the beautification of Bengaluru." He added that they also requested for naming the upcoming metro station near Vellara Junction after Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. "The committee's application for transferable development right (TDR) is in progress. We have requested the BBMP to push this to the higher authorities," Jawad said.