Gurugram: A big challenge lies in front of Gurugram district administration as the Waqf board, in its memorandum, has said that the administration must remove encroached sites and provide land for the devotees to offer their prayers. On Tuesday meeting, the Divisional Commissioner D Suresh again reiterated the position of Muslim board representatives. The Muslim board representatives rued the fact that how falsely they have been blamed for encroaching prime areas in the city.
The task for the solution, however, has been made difficult with the fringe elements not willing to budge from their position of now allowing the 'namaz' to be offered in the open spaces. They also again issued the warning that they will again stage a massive demonstration and even disrupt 'namaz' if it is done in the open areas. Another round of discussion has been slated for Wednesday.
A 15-member committee has also been formed to look into the matter.
For a more evolved discussion, the district administration has also invited Gururam civil society for the participation. As the Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh has left with the Chief Minister for the official foreign visit, the talks are being conducted under Divisional Commissioner D Suresh.
It all started when a group of people disrupted the devotees from offering 'namaz' on April 20. The issue quickly snowballed into a major controversy after a clip of the disruption was circulated in social media. It then led to the arrest of six persons who were then ultimately released on bail. Their arrests further polarised the situation as the outfits not only protested against their arrest but also raised the issue that how prime areas of the city are being systematically encroached by the religious acts.
Reacting on the controversy, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday finally said that 'namaz' must be be offered only in the designated spaces. He also added that as there was an increase in the number of cases due to which certain people registered their protest.
Two weeks after devotees were stopped from offering 'namaz' at the Sector-43 site, the issue seems far from being resolved.