406. Sayeed Ullah Nongrum

Sayeed Ullah Nongrum is a well-known Muslim personality of Shillong. He started his career as a time scale clerk of Telecommunications Department in 1967 and rose to the post of Public Relations Officer from which he voluntarily retired in 1992. Born on 25 November 1945, he took his early education in Shillong and passed matriculation in 1960 from Islamia High School, Shillong, and did his graduation in 1964 and MA in Urdu in 1969 from the University of Guwahati, Assam. He is Meghalaya’s first and only Khasi Muslim to do the postgraduation in Urdu language.

Mr Nongrum has been in the limelight for his selfless social work. He has continuously been elected as the General Secretary of Shillong Muslim Union since 1982. He was Secretary of the Managing Committee of prestigious Islamia High School (1920) of Shillong from 1983-1985 and also the seniormost member of the Meghalaya Board of Wakf (1988). Currently, besides being the elected Secretary of the Meghalaya Wakf Board, he is the President of Shillong Muslim Panchayat (1942)., founder Vice President of Governing Body of Unishyrpi College (1994), Laban, Shillong, and founder President of Qazi & Jaman College, Bhaitbari (1990) and Jinjiram College (2000), Rajabala in West Garo Hills district.

Sayeed Ullah Nongrum contested and won 1993 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election from Rajabala constituency as an independent candidate, but was defeated in 1998 election by a margin of 29 votes. At present he is the Chairman of the Meghalaya Industrial Development Corporation and the Meghalaya Land Revenue Review Committee and Co-ordinator of the Assam-Meghalaya Boundary Settlement Committee.

He is a linguist and fluently speaks in Urdu, Persian, Tamil, Nepali, Bengali, Hindi and Assamese, besides English and Khasi languages. He is married to Fatima Beum Dkhar (formerly Florabell Dkhar). The couple has four children: two sons and two daughters. 

India will have its first glass mosque - in the country's northeast.

Madina Masjid, an imposing and resplendent structure of glass dome and glass minarets, will formally open doors to devotees  in Meghalaya's capital.

"It is an architectural marvel," Congress legislator Sayeedullah Nongrum, who helped in the mosque's construction

Source : milligazette.com