The News Craving
The Newscraving Desk
Srinagar, Mar 21:
A report by the National Institute of Technology (NIT) has noted that the grand mosque at Charar-i-Sharief requires a major strengthening of its structure to prevent vibrations.
The two stories of the mosque have remained closed for nearly two-years depriving hundreds of devotees from offering prayers. Officials of NIT said that the beams were weak and required to be strengthened if any decision on the prayers was allowed.
However the local residents have alleged that the previous government of National Conference used “substandard material” and due to the weak structure the people have faced an ordeal. The local people and the devotees who throng the shrine of Shiekh Nurdin (RA) are unable to offer prayers due to the closure of its two structures.
Prof Manzoor Ahmad Tantary of the Civil Engineering department of NIT said that the “beams of the structure need major strengthening. We are also in the process of releasing a fresh report over the structure.”
The NIT report which was accessed by The Newscraving says that the “ slab persisted with undue vibrations”during the load testing earlier. The report attributed it to the “inadequate stiffness in the waffle slab system” that needs “ stiffness improvements by way of retrofitting measures.”
The Jammu and Kashmir Wakf Board has approached the Lieutenant Governor (LG), Manoj Sinha, seeking a CBI probe in the multi-crore scandal in the construction of the mosque o during the National Conference (NC) regime. The Wakf Board chairperson, Dr Darakshan Andrabi, has taken up the matter with LG, Manoj Sinha, in the scandal, officials said.
According to the Wakf officials the two stories of the mosque remain closed for last over two years while as the prayers also couldn’t be held for several days in the ground floor during the load testing carried out by the NIT team in the month of October.
Although the local residents have said that the flow of sewerage into the vicinity of the mosque could be also responsible for the “ weak building structure”, the NIT officials ruled this out as a reason. Wakf officials said that they have advised even the local people that they should prefer to offer prayers in the nearby mosques in the town for safety reasons. “ We are only holding Friday prayers at the mosque right now,” said a senior official of the Wakf Board.
