Aalami Tablighi Ijtema (World Islamic Congregation) Organisation Committee (ATIOC) here has requested the Railways not to carry out maintenance work at the city’s main railway station during the three-day annual international Islamic meet, beginning on November 26 in Eintkhedi.
In a letter released here on Sunay to the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, ATIOC Bhopal chairman Iqbal Hafeez Khan has requested the planned maintenance work at platform number 1 be postponed to December 5.
In the alternative, it should be completed by next month, so as to avoid inconvenience to lakhs of devotees arriving here to attend the 69th Aalmi Tablighi Ijtema (International Islamic Congregation).
"We have come to know through newspaper reports that the platform number one at Bhopal main station will be closed for maintenance between November 2 and December 15. As a result all the trains coming from Uttar Pradesh are proposed to be stopped at Habibganj station," the letter said.
It would create a problem for the devotees as well as the district administration in regulating the traffic, it said.
Khan also lauded the Railways for extending special support for the meet, popularly known as Ijtema.
ATIOC had already petitioned the local Railway authority and the district administration over the issue, the letter said.
Over 12 lakh Muslims from India and 30 other countries are expected to attend the Ijtema, that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has called ‘the pride of Bhopal.’
Railways also makes special arrangements for the three day congregation and also runs special trains from different parts of the country for the devotees.
During the three-day congregation renowned Islamic scholars deliver sermons on the life and practice of Prophet Muhammad and Islamic Shariat (law). Considered as one of the biggest Muslim
congregations in the country and third largest in the world the event sees people arriving here from across India and abroad.