By Ghazala Ahmad

Volunteers at the historic Shahi Masjid in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain on Monday began manually demolishing around three feet of the mosque’s hanging slab after tensions escalated over a proposed demolition for a road-widening project.

The move came after three nights of a mass vigil by Muslims, with hundreds of people camping inside and outside the mosque to prevent the administration from carrying out the demolition.

Speaking to Maktoob,  a resident who wished to remain anonymous, said the mosque’s Numainda Committee and the administration had reached an understanding last night, on 27th September, that three feet of the mosque’s hanging slab, an area where prayers are not offered, would be removed.

“Last night, the Numainda Committee and the administration concluded a mutual understanding that three feet of the mosque’s hanging slab, which was coming in the way of the Mandir view. The committee had agreed to demolish those three feet themselves,” he said.

People had dispersed and went to their respective homes after offering the Fajr prayers on 28th September. However, officials returned to the mosque around 8 am and allegedly threatened to demolish the marked portion immediately.

Police subsequently clashed with people gathered outside the mosque, with tear gas reportedly fired to disperse the crowd.

“A kind of argument started between police and locals; that’s when police resorted to tear gas shelling”, the local said.

“In that meeting, they decided that we would not give the eight-foot area of the mosque, as they are demanding, but we would give them the three-foot area where there is no prayer happening, which is above the shops below. We said we would give you the three-foot area, and we would remove it ourselves”, another resident told Maktoob.

The dispute involves one of the mosque’s minarets.

“As far as the minaret is concerned, we were told that we would give you the minaret, but first we will build a new minaret behind it and then remove the existing one. But the administration was not happy with this,” a local told Maktoob.

This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.