Plan to reconstruct Mughal era mosque
Tk 200 crore project will be presented to ministry of housing and public works today
The front view of Anderkillah Shahi Jame Mosque. Photo: Zobaer Hossain Sikder
Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) has taken a project of Tk 200 crore to expand and reconstruct Anderkilla Shahi Jame Masjid, a 340-year-old hilltop mosque of Mughal era in the port city. CDA would complete the work keeping the mosque's original shape unchanged. The design and plan of the project will be presented to the ministry for housing and public work today (December 18), sources said. CDA initiated the project as part of its plans to preserve and conserve monuments and structures of historical and archeological significance. Umed Khan, son of Nawab Shayesta Khan, set up the Anderkilla Shahi Jame Masjid in 1667 as a monument to commemorate the Mughals' victory over Arakani Moghs and Portuguese pirates in the previous year, they said. Shayesta Khan and his son Bujurg Umed Khan donated huge properties for maintenance of the mosque and a madrasa on over 2.4276 acres of land at Anderkilla. The name Anderkilla meaning “Inner fort” and the mosque stands as a symbol of the Muslim triumph over the hostile and the odds. But, rows of shops of the mosque market now block the panoramic view of the masque that stands 30-foot above the adjoining ground when a project of Tk 24.88 crore for beautification and renovation by Islamic Foundation remained shelved since 2005, sources said. CDA also has a plan to construct a two-storey building surrounding the 27-foot high main mosque building keeping its original design and shape unharmed, sources said. The pictorial complex would have three laps before the main compound of the mosque. The first lap would have a parking lot with capacity of some 500 cars, said senior architect Maharina Jafrin. Shops of the mosque market will be rehabilitated on two other laps to enable one to have a view of the mosque from distance, she said. There would be two hydraulic lifts at the east and north gates of the mosque to help the elderly and the persons with disability reach the main compound apart from two other lifts in the main mosque building, she added. The mosque would have sufficient space for over 8,000 devotees to say prayers at a time where some 2,000 say prayers now. Apart from two eye-catching minarets (tombs) of modern architectural designs at the north entry points, green patches would be developed surrounding the mosque complex, they said. A 20-storey city tower would also be constructed on the southeast of the mosque complex for offices and shops. Spaces in the tower would be sold or rented out that would help self-financing of the project later on. CDA Chairman Shah Muhammad Akhteruddin said they would start implementing the project with its own fund. He said in the meantime a number of donors from both home and abroad, including Turkish agency TK group and AK Khan group, have already shown interest in financing over Tk 70 crore for the complex. According to the historians, during the British colonial rule, East India Company turned the mosque into a magazine for arms and ammunitions. They destroyed the domes and some pillars of the mosque and kept all the mosque-based activities suspended forcibly for around 95 years. However, Khan Bahadur Hamidullah Khan, a revenue officer under the British Raj in the 19th century, launched a movement that succeeded to free the mosque in 1856. But, the properties of the mosque had been registered as the waqf properties for the next 106 years until a committee headed by deputy commissioner of Chittagong was formed in 1962 to look after the mosque. Anderkilla Shahi Jamey Mosque was handed over to the Islamic Foundation Bangladesh under the ministry for religious affairs on January 7 in 1986 for its maintenance and management.
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