Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The grandiose Faisal mosque which attracts hundreds of thousand visitors from across the country to see its picturesque architecture is giving a shabby look due to poor maintenance and bad cleanliness managed by its administration.

The visitors expressed resentment over sheer negligence of the authorities concerned, urging them to take cognizance of the situation and improve cleanliness at the Mosque.

“I always wanted to visit Faisal mosque since childhood, but it saddened me when I had come over here and witnessed big patches of moss at ablution area and dust stuck to the walls,” a visitor Umer Zaman from Mirpur told APP on Thursday.

“A number of washrooms are closed and overall situation of sanitation and lavatories is also very poor. I am very disappointed due to the clumsy ambiance of the national heritage”, he expressed.

Hafiz Kareem, a faithful devotee said that fountains played an important role to enhance the beauty of architecture and fountains in the main arena of mosque were dysfunctional since so long. The authorities should fix it as the Mosque was giving a rusty picture without fountains, he added.

An official of Dawah Academy who looked after the matters of Faisal Mosque said that the Academy only dealt with religious activities and management. The subject of cleanliness and maintenance came under the jurisdiction of the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

“We have written many times to authorities to fix these problems, but no serious action has been taken”, he said.

An official of CDA from sanitation directorate passed the buck on Dawah academy by saying that civic authority has ensured cleanliness as proper dustbins were placed and janitors were deputed at the Mosque to maintain clean up.

However, there were some issues that also come under the ambit of Dawah Academy which they should manage themselves as CDA alone was not responsible, he added.