Following the opposition of right-wing to Muslims offering namaz in open public spaces, the district administration on Thursday designated around 40 places including two dozen public spaces for offering Friday prayers.
The remaining places include the mosques and the properties owned by the Waqf Board.
As of now, the Muslim community has been offering prayers at around 90 public places in the city, besides the mosques and the Waqf properties.
“As of now, the prayer congregations are at held at every 200-500 m. But now with reduced number of venues, there would be only one prayer congregation in a radius of around two km,” said Wajid Khan Nehru Yuva Sangathan Welfare Society chairman Hazid Shahzad Khan.
He said that volunteers would be deployed at the current venues to guide the devotees to the new designated places.
“It would take a bit longer for the devotees to walk down to the venues and return, but we agreed to it to avoid inconvenience to the commuters and the public,” said Mr. Khan.
The designated public places include open spaces in DLF Phase-I, DLF Phase-II, Sushant Lok, Sector 56, Sector 50, Udyog Vihar, Manesar and Badshahpur.
Charter of nine demands
Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Kranti Dal national in-charge Rajiv Mittal, who is a member of Sanyukt Hindu Sangarsh Samiti executive committee, said that they had submitted the charter of nine demands to the district administration and would wait for its implementation.
“It is difficult to rectify the situation overnight. The district administration must be allowed adequate time for it. We also believe that resorting to violence and force is not the solution. We won’t indulge in any activity which brings a bad name to the city,” said Mr. Mittal.
Meanwhile, the District Magistrate Chander Shekhar Khare has appointed 76 Duty Magistrates to maintain law and order on Friday.
“The police will be deployed in adequate numbers at the designated places to maintain peace. No one will be allowed the take the law in their hands,” said Gurugram police spokesperson Ravinder Kumar.
