On April 22, New Town witnessed its first-ever largescale namaz at the NKDA Community Centre.
The Newtown Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) had allowed an air-conditioned hall at the NKDA Community Centre to be used for the purpose, which proved to be a blessing in the midst of the heatwave-like condition prevailing last week.
The New Town Citizens Welfare Fraternity, an umbrella body of residents, had put in the application on behalf of the Muslim residents of New Town to provide them with a centralised space to offer their prayers twice a year, on Eid ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Zoha.
The namaz started at 8am with Hafiz Kutubuddin Molla from Baliguri, Rajarhat, as the imam and lasted for about 40 minutes. In the hall, separate seating arrangements were made for men and women. Afterwards, everyone gathered in the courtyard of the community centre to partake of a small feast of sherbat, vermicelli, khasta kachuri and sweets.
The Muslim residents of New Town were delighted to finally have a venue to perform their Eid prayers near their homes, that too in air-conditioned comfort. Syed Shahjahan Siraj, an elderly resident of Uniworld City, was thankful to the residents' body for arranging for such a gathering. "We would have had to go to mosques in the rural outskirts of New Town for the prayer like other years otherwise. Not only have we got a far more accessible location but we also did not have to pray in the scorching summer heat. I don’t know where the next prayer will take place but I hope the venue stays the same," he said.
Motiur Rahman, a resident of DC Block, said: “We are overwhelmed to get this privilege. Earlier we had to go to the Kochpukur mosque.”
Syed Humayun Siraj, convenor of the NTCWF Namaz Committee, expressed his happiness in succeeding to provide the facility to New Town residents. “It was only with the help of Firhad Hakim, chairman of Hidco, that we were able to accomplish this smoothly after multiples meetings. We didn't expect so many people to come here but over 550 people have gathered today,” he smiled.
saltlake@abp.in