Project to build new mosque at Ayodhya kicks off with hoisting of national flag at the site to mark R-Day

Members of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) trust raised the national flag on the occasion of the Republic Day on Tuesday and carried out a tree plantation drive at the site earmarked for the new mosque in Ayodhya's Dhannipur village to formally begin the project to construct it.

"We have started the work of soil testing at the site. So, one can say that technical work for the mosque has begun. After this, once reports are out and our maps are approved, we will start construction work. We have appealed for donations for the mosque and people have already started contributing," Zafar Ahmad Farooqui, the chief of the trust, was quoted as saying in a report carried by NDTV.

As reported by National Herald on December 20, the trust had last month unveiled the futuristic design of the mosque. It will not have the stereotypical domes, minarets or arches, which marked Islamic structures in India. Instead, it will have a “cosmic” design resembling the spherical earth cushioned in space.

The rectangular layout of the complex in Dhannipur village also includes a speciality hospital, community kitchen and a museum housed in a multi-storey vertical structure, as per the blueprint released by the trust.

The mosque will be able to accommodate 2,000 namazis at a time and will be four times bigger than Babri Masjid. The 300-bed hospital complex will be six times the size of the mosque. The trust plans to expand the hospital in the second phase.