Bengaluru: A compound wall of a Shia mosque here was on Sunday demolished by the civic authorities to widen a road, after members of the community agreed to it.
The demolition was carried out in the presence of Mayor Sampath Raj and local Congress MLA N.A. Harris and BBMP officials.
The Masjid-E-Askari and Shia Graveyard managing committee president Mir Ali Jawad had said they decided to give a portion of the mosque space, including the wall, as they did not want to inconvenience motorists.
The city corporation had planned to widen the road to ease traffic congestion about five years ago, but could not do it as the then mosque managing committee had opposed the proposal.
The new committee took up the matter and agreed to allow the BBMP to use the space, Jawad had said.
The mosque authorities had already built a new wall and also sought allotment of alternative land in lieu of the about 1,000 squre feet space they had given. They want to build another mosque.
Harris told reporters on Sunday that he would speak to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Bengaluru In-charge Minister K. J. George to allot the land.
At present, there are three Shia mosques in the city at Johnson Market, Yeshvanthpur and Aneplaya.
According to Jawad, there were about 18,000 Shia community members in Bengaluru.
