[Spread over a land measuring 40,000 square foot, the Malegaon Urdu Ghar is built at the cost of around 08 crore rupees. (Photo: Abdullah Mubarak/ummid.com)]
Malegaon (Maharashtra): Malegaon - the Muslim dominated city in North Maharashtra known for textiles, finally got the Urdu Ghar ready - courtesy the tireless efforts by local Congress MLA Asif Shaikh and the undiminishing support of the BJP-Shiv Sena government in the state.
Though an official inauguration of the Malegaon Urdu Ghar - an architectural marvel, is expected in next few days, the premises was opened for some of the local dignitaries and reporters on Friday.
The erstwhile UPA government in Maharashtra had sanctioned the construction of Urdu Ghars in six cities of the state namely Mumbai, Malegaon, Aurangabad, Sholapur, Nanded and Nagpur. However, it never took the needed effort to make them happen and hence the decision remained, like most of its promises, on paper.
Former ministers Arif Naseem Khan and Fauzia Khan in fact were accused of creating hurdles in the implementation of many welfare projects for Muslims, especially in Malegaon. However, Asif Shaikh, who won the Maharashtra assembly election for the first time in 2014, took tireless and mission-like effort for the construction of Urdu Ghar in Malegaon.
"The first proposal I submitted to the state government after winning the 2014 assembly election was about the construction of Urdu Ghar in Malegaon", Asif Shaikh, Congress MLA from Malegaon Centre assembly constituency, said.
Later, his aides led by Haleem Siddiqui, visited a number of places, including Jamia Milliah Islamia and Jamia Hamdard in New Delhi, to finalise the design.
"We finally zeroed down on the designs of Jamia Millia Auditorium and Jamia Hamdard Study Centre", Siddiqui told ummid.com.
"An expert architect was hired who then designed the building keeping in mind Islamic and modern architecture", he said.
Spread over a land measuring 40,000 square foot, the Malegaon Urdu Ghar is built at the cost of around 08 crore rupees. It is located adjacent to Zaini Basheer Hall of Malegaon High School and Junior College, and exactly opposite to it is Abdul Azeez Kallu Stadium.
On the ground floor of the multi-storey, 20,000 sq foot building is fully air-conditioned, 300 seat Auditorium. The auditorium has all the modern amaneties, sloped floor with comfortable push back chairs, quality sound system and stage design which gives ancient Urdu-culture touch, and a combination of traditional and modern look.
On the first floor, Malegaon Urdu Ghar has a Study Centre for civil services aspirants. The study centre has a library having relevant study materials, tables with dividers and wide enough for the students to keep 10-12 books at a time. The study centre also has a room with round table for Group Discussion.
Also available for the students at the study centre, is internet facility and e-library with access to other libraries, and video conferencing hall which will also be used as Virtual Classroom for Guest Lectures.
The whole of the second floor of the building is a library for general public. The library will have daily and weeky newspapers, besides fortnightly and monthly journals and periodicals. Like the study centre, the library too has a good seating arrangements for its visitors.
The other attraction of the Malegaon Urdu Ghar is its dome the interior of which is carved in with Surah al Rahman of the Holy Quran. The inscription, in white on blue background, is a glaring sample of classic Urdu calligraphy.
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