New Delhi

A Chennai-based Muslim couple donates Rs 1 cr for Tirupati shrine in Karnataka while in a faraway village in Punjab, the work on the first mosque in village Rampura Gujjaran in Sangrur district on the land donated by two Hindus is going on at a feverish pitch.

Such stories of human bonding and innate respect for each others’ faith make India an Incredible country!

On Monday, the Chennai-based businessman Abdul Ghani and his wife Nubina Bano presented a checqur of rs 1.2 crore to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), the management committee of the world's richest shrine. They handed over the cheque to TTD executive officer Dharma reddy inside the shrine. Out of this money, Rs 15 lakh is meant for the Sri Venkateswara Anna Prasadam Trust which provides free food to thousands of devotees visiting the temple every day.

The remaining Rs 87 lakh is earmarked for new kitchen utensils and furniture for the Shri Padmavati Guest House.

It’s not the first time that this business couple donated to this temple also called Balaji Mandir.

Two years ago, they donated a multifunctional tractor-mounted sprayer for using a disinfectant on the temple premises during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier they donated a refrigerator truck worth Rs 35 lakh to the temple for logistics of vegetables.

Villagers of Rampura Gujjaran at the construction site of the mosque

Moving to Punjab villagers in Rampura Gujjaran are keenly awaiting the completion of the first mosque in the village. of 125 families The land for the mosque is donated by two Hindu brothers - Balbir Singh and Harmesh Singh while the rest of them are chipping in with cash and materials for the project.

The village has only 12 Muslim families who travelled 3 km to reach a mosque in Dirba Town for performing Namaz.

Harmesh Singh, one of the people in charge of raising donations for the mosque says,” The village has a temple Radha Krishna temple, now we will also have a mosque.”

The basis structure of the mosque is all set to be ready in the next few months, while the roof and finishing will take around 5-6 months.

Meanwhile, a Malerkotla-based NGO, the Idara-Tameere Masjid committee, is also helping in the construction of the mosque. Mufti Dilshad Qasmi of the NGO, who laid the foundation stone of the mosque on Sunday, said they were happy to help and lauded the Hindu community members for donating land for it.

The village had come into being just before the partition of India. Hindus asked Muslim families to settle in the village soon after lakhs of people were displaced on both sides of the Redcliff line. The village doesn’t have any Sikh family

It was a month ago at a meeting of the villagers that Muslims raised the issue of lack of a mosque for them to pray. Two Hindus Balbir Singh, 54, and Harmesh Singh, 62, announced that they would give their land for the project.

Villagers pose at the under construction mosque

“We have no words to thank them," said Jaffar Khan.

Another elderly villager Hanief Khan said: "We are thankful to our Hindu brothers for this priceless gift. We assured them that before praying for ourselves in the mosque, we will pray for them."

He said the mosque is a gift not only for us but for our future generations by their Hindu neighbours.Haneif Khan has three sons and three grandsons who will be able to pray at the village mosque.

Balbir Singh and Harmesh Singh said they are happy that they could contribute to the coming up of the mosque in the village. “We had this plot of land measuring three bighas. We are happy that it will be used for the construction of a mosque," said Balbir.

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