Lucknow, Sep 2 (IANS): The mosque that is to be constructed in Dhannipur in Ayodhya, on the five-acre land given in lieu of the Babri mosque, will bridge the communal divide and showcase social harmony.

S. M. Akhtar, a Lucknow architect-cum-town planner and founder dean, Faculty of Architecture, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, will design the mosque complex. He said, "It will be designed in the Indo-Islamic style and aim to bridge communal differences. We can't replicate anything. But we are planning to go for the contemporary form of architecture."

Other than the mosque, Akhtar will also design public utility establishments, including a hospital, an Indo-Islamic Research Centre, community kitchen and a museum which will be a part of the mosque complex.

Akhtar has been appointed as the architect of the proposed mosque by the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), the trust overseeing the construction of the complex.

The architect said that the mosque will come up on around 15,000 square feet of land while the other utilities will be built on the remaining land.

"Through this project we have immense opportunities to reunite communities. The Masjid will just be a part of the complex. We can come up with holistic ideas to achieve three values -- human values, Indianness and Islamic. We do not want it to become a complex for just one community," he said.

He said that because of the coronavirus pandemic, no tentative date has yet been decided for construction to start.

The Uttar Pradesh government handed the plot that lies about 20 kilometres from Ayodhya and is currently occupied by rice fields, to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) last month in accordance with the Supreme Court's November 2019 verdict that cleared the way for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The court had ordered the government to allot five acres of land at an alternative site for the construction of a mosque.