Dhannipur project: IICF may look for foreign contribution

THE DHANNIPUR PROJECT HAS BEEN NAMED AFTER FREEDOM FIGHTER AND REVOLUTIONARY MAULVI AHMADULLAH SHAH FAIZABADI

LUCKNOW: The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), the trust formed by the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) to look after the Dhannipur project in Ayodhya, on Thursday said that it would look for foreign contribution if a sizable amount for the project did not come in from domestic sources.

The project includes a mosque, a hospital and other structures of public utility on five-acre land allotted to UPSCWB at Dhannipur village in Ayodhya after the Supreme Court verdict of November 9, 2019 in the Ayodhya title dispute case.

“We don’t have any competition, neither are we going for crowd funding as is being done in case of the Ram Mandir construction. On failing to get a sizable amount from India, we would be looking forward to foreign contributions, once we are done with formalities,” said Athar Hussain, spokesperson for IICF.

The Dhannipur project has been named after freedom fighter and revolutionary Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah Faizabadi.

So far, the board has received around ₹34 lakh in its account that became functional in October 2020. Rohit Srivastava, an employee with the faculty of law at University of Lucknow was first one to contribute to the project that would cost around ₹800 crore. Srivastava donated ₹21,000 for the Dhannipur project.

Board members said ₹300 crore alone would be utilised in the construction of hospital, while the remaining amount would be spent on construction of the mosque, Indo-Islamic centre and community kitchen. The first phase of the project, the estimated cost of which is ₹100 crore, was expected to take off by the next month, the board members said.

“Some approvals from the development authority and some paper work is pending with the development authority. The approval is expected soon,” said Hussain.