Hyderabad: The revenue department demolished a building in Hyderabad’s Suraram area on Monday, April 20, stating it was built on government land. Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) has alleged that it was a mosque, and that it was razed down without prior notice from government officials.
Both parties confirm the demolition took place in the presence of police officers. Speaking to Siasat.com, Suraram Police denied that the building was a mosque. “It was not a religious structure. The demolition was carried out since the structure was on government land,” said police.
MBT Spokesperson Amjed Ullah Khan, on Tuesday, April 21, has refuted police claims stating that Masjid-e-Syed Maulana at Sai Baba Nagar, Phase 1, was donated by a local resident named Mohammed Jahangir. “Due to financial hardship, locals had constructed a temporary tin-shed structure, where prayers had begun just 15 days ago,” he said in a statement.
“The authorities did not provide any time to remove the prayer mats, copies of the Quran and other essential material, which is deeply insensitive,” he said, calling for the immediate reconstruction of the mosque.
According to Khan, along with the building, as many as 12 houses belonging to the poor were also demolished. “They have lived in the area for 15 years. There was no notice provided to them, either,” he said.
The MBT Spokesperson charged at Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, asking whether he was “aware” of the demolition. He claimed that there is a pattern in the demolition of religious structures since the Congress government came to power in Telangana.
