SADIQABAD, April 28: Once a symbol of architectural grandeur, the 500-year-old mosque at Chanjni village is not even a shadow of its past today. The village is situated along the GT Road, about 75kms off the city. Constructed at least 500 years ago during the Mughal era, the mosque attracted local and foreign tourists who used to capture its architectural images. It is the only major mosque at the village.

Today it stands as a remnant of the Muslim rulers’ heritage and is unfortunately in a dilapidated condition thanks to the apathy of the provincial archaeology and auqaf departments.

Scores of villagers told Dawn that several acres around the mosque were meant for extending it for the growing population, but some residents of the locality had been using the plots for dumping garbage which together with stagnant filthy water, had become a permanent health hazard for the people.

Heaps of bricks can be seen on the plots and wild weeds and unkempt bushes further mar the beauty of the mosque.

The interior of the mosque is in equally bad condition, as the age-old building had developed cracks long ago. Its structure looks all the more threatening and the people offer prayers amid fear. Owls have found a permanent abode inside the mosque.

The succeeding governments have not felt obliged to renovate the building despite reminders by the people.

They said a local philanthropist accepted the responsibility of renovating the mosque almost a decade ago, but he could not materialize his dream because of his death.

When contacted, mosque Imam Hafiz Bashir Ahmad told this correspondent that his late father Qazi Wahid Bakhsh led prayers here for more than 80 years.

He said 50 children of the village were currently getting religious education at the mosque.

He said whatever was being spent on the mosque was contributed by the villagers and none of the government functionaries had been working for a noble cause.

The people have regretted that Union Council Nazim Abdul Majid, local MPA Qazi Ahmad Saeed and MNA Makhdoom Ahmad Anwar, all residents of the village, had shown little interest in improving the lot of this national heritage. They have demanded that the government should wake up now and renovate it before it becomes a part of the past.