The Telangana government today said that it would build a new mosque to replace the one which was razed during the Secretariat
demolition process last year at exactly the same place in the new Secretariat.
Replying to the queries raised by the MLAs of the MIM in the Assembly, Roads and Buildings Minister V Prashant Reddy said, "Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has already responded on the issue on several occasions. Nobody should any longer have any doubts about the commitment of our government towards reconstructing the demolished mosque."
The minister also reminded the house that where the old mosque was spread across 433 square yards, the government had allotted 1500 square yards for the new one. He added that 1500 square yards had been allotted to a temple and 500 square yards to a church.
Reddy then claimed that the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the three religious structures would be conducted very soon, and would be held on the same day, and assured the MLAs that the three sites of worship would be opened to the public for use even before the formal inauguration of the secretariat complex.
The announcement is a hugely significant one since the demolition, which included the
tearing down of two mosques and a temple, had become somewhat of an Achilles heel for the TRS regime, and had caused immense friction between the ruling party and the leaders of the Opposition. Congress leader and former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, for instance, has
flayed the government several times for failing to take up the reconstruction works in a timely manner even after it had reportedly
promised to do so on several occasions.