16 mosques that hosted members of congregation disinfected

NEW DELHI:: At least 16 mosques, which were earlier identified by Delhi Police for having housed around 150 foreign nationals and over 20 Indians who were a part of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin earlier this month, were sanitised on Wednesday.

The 16 mosques are located in areas such as Pul Prahladpur, Malviya Nagar, Shastri Park, Chandni Mahal and Turkman Gate in Old Delhi. Several foreign nationals — from countries including Indonesia, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan — who visited the Jammat’s headquarters this month were staying in these mosques.

At one of the mosques in Old Delhi’s Chandni Mahal, 15 pilgrims from the Jamaat’s Markaz building — five couples from Indonesia, four men from Algeria, and an Indian national from Hyderabad — have been quarantined on the third floor of the masjid. “They have been here since the lockdown was announced. They are in complete isolation. They cook their own food on the third floor and even offer namaz there. None of them have shown any symptoms. The health officials had come to visit them on Wednesday and gave them a form that was to be filled, if anyone fell sick,” said Shakeel Ahmed, president of the masjid committee.

“The police have asked us to not let anyone enter the mosque premises and maintain hygiene. We had already shut the masjid and nobody is allowed to come in, even for namaz. The police have also collected the passports of the pilgrims and a letter has been sent to the respective embassies,” said Mohammad Ali, imam of the Chandni Mahal mosque.

At least 12 Indonesia nationals arrived in south Delhi’s Hauz Rani and Malviya Nagar areas on March 30, said Haji Kallu, the president of the masjid committee. These people, Kallu added, have been quarantined at the mosque. “They came to the mosque on March 30; we don’t know where they stayed before that. We immediately informed the area subdivisional magistrate and the police.”

In Shastri Park, at least 35 people were shifted to a quarantine facility from two mosques.In Wazirabad, 15 people, including 12 Indonesian nationals, were quarantined inside the area’s Jama Masjid mosque.