Delhi Waqf Board Calls for Immediate Safeguarding of 300‑Year‑Old Race Course Mosque

The Delhi Waqf Board sent a frantic appeal on October 19 to the ministries of Minority Affairs, Home Affairs, the divisional commissioner and the district magistrate of New Delhi. The board’s chief executive, Tanvir Ahmad, said that a 300‑year‑old mosque and its adjoining cemetery on Race Course Road had been left without water and electricity.

According to Ahmad, the utilities were disconnected on October 7, in the middle of a demolition operation that targeted illegal settlements in the area. No prior notice was given, and the board argues there was no legitimate reason to cut off services that had been legally supplied since 1976.

The mosque, which is listed as a heritage monument (NDMC heritage list No. 22) and recorded on the UMEED portal, is also a notified waqf property under a September 1977 gazette notification. It is managed directly by the Waqf Board, with an imam appointed by the board who conducts the five daily prayers.

Things got stranger on October 17, when men claiming to be from the Land and Development Office (L&DO) visited the site. They allegedly told the imam, Maulana Haroon Rahi, to vacate the premises within three days and warned that the structure would be demolished thereafter. The Times of India reported the encounter, but officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs say the L&DO never issued a formal notice.

In its letter, the board pressed for immediate restoration of water and power and asked for protection against any demolition without due process. It also highlighted that the 53.2‑acre plot on which the mosque sits belongs to the L&DO and has been handed over to the Central Public Works Department for maintenance and development.

Earlier, in October 2025, the government had asked residents of the nearby Bhai Ram, Masjid and DID camps to leave the land and move to a Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board colony in Savda Ghevra. That eviction was part of a joint survey by the L&DO and the Delhi Development Authority aimed at relocating unauthorized slum clusters.

While the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) told the Delhi High Court that it could not restore electricity while demolition work was ongoing, the Waqf Board maintains that no demolition order has been served and that worshippers are being denied entry to the mosque.

The board’s plea remains pending, and it has called on the concerned ministries to intervene without further delay, lest a centuries‑old place of worship be irreparably harmed.