Dharanbudhoo Council: Will no longer lease old mosque building

Faafu Atoll Dharanbudhoo Council on Sunday announced the decision to no longer lease a building formerly used as a mosque on the island.

The council made this decision after the backlash received due to a video circulated on social media when expatriates can be seen sleeping and eating in the building in question.

In a statement released by the council, it noted that in 2017, praying was completely stopped in the “Dhaarululoom” mosque, after finding out there may be graves in the area.

Additionally, the statement noted that the mosque was even removed from the mosque registry at the time, and the building was handed over to the council.

“We would like to note that no government institution has requested the building to be leased out to any party. The council has now come to the decision that the building will no longer be leased for accommodation or any such purposes henceforth.”

Moreover, the council revealed that the building has been used for different things over the years, and since May 2020, it has been rented out for various uses.

Stating that it was previously leased to companies like MTCC also, the council said it is currently rented to an Indian civil engineering company, SMC Infrastructure.

Dharanbudhoo Council noted that the videos and claims that expatriates were using the island’s mosque as accommodation were baseless lies being spread under a political agenda.

The statement condemned this attempt at  smearing the reputation of the government and council