Sohail Ahad:
Brahmanbaria District Model Mosque has not been commissioned even after one year of inauguration. The newly constructed Brahmanbaria District Model Mosque for Muslim devotees on the abandoned site of the old Kachari Bhawan in the heart of Brahmanbaria Municipal Town is yet to be opened for prayers. No prayer room, ablution hall, toilet, library or auditorium has been completed. As a result, it is said that the worshipers are finding it difficult to pray.
On October 30, 2023, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated 50 mosques across the country through video conference. At that time, the model mosque was not fully built, but on the eve of starting the campaign for the 2024 twelfth national parliament election, the former member of parliament of Brahmanbaria Sadar Constituency Ram Ubaidul Moktadir Chowdhury inaugurated the mosque. Several Muslims said that it has not been made suitable for praying, but the model mosque has been inaugurated but it has not been made suitable for praying so far. As a result, we find it difficult to pray in a small tin house next to the mosque. There is no ablution facility, no toilet facility. He demanded that the model mosque be made suitable for fast prayers.
The imam of the temporary mosque, Siam Ahmed, said that the place where we pray is a very small tin house. No more than 15-20 people can pray together there. If it is more than that, people go elsewhere. Although there are dilapidated ablutions here, the Muslims suffer due to the lack of toilets. He demanded to open the Brahmanbaria model mosque for prayers soon.
When talking to Islami Foundation Brahmanbaria District Deputy Director Ashekur Rahman about the matter, he said that there are places for prayers on the second, third and fourth floors of the four-storied building. Besides we have offices, library and auditorium. The second and fourth floors of the mosque have designated places for men to pray. On one side of the third floor, arrangements have been made for men to offer prayers and on the other side for women. We previously carried out office operations in a rented building. After the opening of the Model Mosque, Dhaka Head Office instructed to shift the office to the Model Mosque. Accordingly, we have shifted office activities on 1st February last. When asked when the mosque, auditorium and library will be opened, he said, electricity connection is still pending. Moreover, the building has not yet been handed over to the Public Works Department. If the public works department hands it over to us, we can officially launch it.
Saad Mohammad Andalib, Brahmanbaria District Executive Engineer of Public Works Department said, he confirmed that it may take another month to hand over the model mosque.
It is to be noted that the Awami League government in 2017 accepted the (second revised) project of setting up a total of 564 model mosques and Islamic cultural centers in each district and upazila at a cost of Tk 9,435 crore. Model mosques and Islamic cultural centers have been built on 43 percent of the land in three categories. Among them, four-storey model mosques and Islamic cultural centers have been constructed at district and city corporation levels, three-storey at upazila level and four-storey model mosques at coastal areas.
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