TPCC Minorities Department head Shaik Abdullah Sohail today demanded that the TRS government make an official announcement on when the foundation stones for the re-construction of the two mosques and a temple demolished to make way for the new Secretariat would be laid.
In a statement issued to the media, Sohail said that neither Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao nor his ministers had made any official announcement regarding such a date so far.
"There has been no mention of when the works for the reconstruction of the two mosques and a temple will be flagged off. After first illegally demolishing the three places of worship, the government is now not even working towards rebuild them. We urge it to start the works soon. We also demand that it explain what happened to the Holy Quran, prayer mats and other materials from both the mosques when they were demolished," he demanded.
"Although KCR visited the construction site on Republic Day to review the ongoing works for the new Secretariat, he failed to take any steps to begin the reconstruction works," the Congress leader added.
Sohail also lashed out at the CM for having "tricked" the Muslim leaders in the city several times to suppress their agitation on the issue, saying, "The Chief Minister has been dragging his feet over the matter since July last year. He has repeatedly defaulted on several deadlines for the laying of the foundation of the two mosques on some pretext or another. Several organisations and individuals have launched an agitation seeking permission to resume prayers at the place where the mosques stood. Just to pacify them, the CM directed his ministers to hold a meeting with the Muslim religious leaders, and set an unofficial deadline for the start of the works. Strangely, neither the CM nor his ministers have ever spoken officially on the deadline for the rebuilding."
He said that the new deadline of February 26 had been announced at a meeting with Muslim leaders with the aim of buying some more time for the rebuilding.
"The notification for the elections in two MLC graduates' constituencies and the Nagarjuna Sagar by-election are likely to be issued in the next few days. Since the completion of these elections may take up to three-four months, the TRS government will have an excuse in the Model Code of Conduct to further delay the laying of the foundation for the three buildings. However, we urge the government to use this time to complete most of the works for the new Secretariat building. Once the cellar and ground floor works are done, the construction will have to be completed," the TPCC Minorities department chief said.
The leader also advised the Muslim leaders of the city not to get misled by the latest deadline of February 26 as it was not an official announcement.
"KCR has a history of making false promises. Therefore, the Muslim leaders should build pressure on him to compel him to honour his promise this time," he said.
Further, he said that the design for the mosques being circulated on the social media were not the official designs approved of by the TRS government.
Sohail alleged that it was unfair that the CM had given the MIM leaders the responsibility of designing the mosques while it had assigned the rest of the construction works to the Shapurji Pallonji firm.
The issue of the demolition of the two mosques and a temple to make way for the new Secretariat has become a bone of contention between the TRS government, and Opposition leaders and various Muslim organisations who have been demanding that the buildings be remade at the earliest.
Congress leader and former minister Shabbir Ali had also recently
demanded that the government start the mosques' works immediately.