Encroachment of WAQF, Endowment Lands : MIM wants government to bring land grabbers to book

Hyderabad: AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi demanded the State government to take stringent action against those who encroached upon the Endowments and Waqf lands, and also lock the lands under these two departments to ensure no registration takes place.

Speaking during the discussion on the new Revenue Bill in the Assembly on Friday, the MIM leader expressed serious concern over increasing encroachment of lands owned by the state Endowments department, temple trusts and Waqf board. He urged Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to put an end to the registration of Waqf and endowment lands and to take stringent action against officials involved in transfer of such lands.

Owaisi said that Muslims were the biggest losers during the successive land reforms in the country. "Muslims had to lose lands under Jagir Abolition Act, Inam Abolition Act, Urban Land Ceiling Act etc," he reminded, adding that there was a Supreme Court judgement that institutional Inams and institutional Waqf lands were exempted from the Acts.

He said during an initial survey, 70,000 acres of Waqf lands were identified and another 30,000 acres were identified in the second survey. The MIM leader requested the government to give one last opportunity to the people who were having notarised documents for registration of their plots. He wanted the government to collect only nominal fee for the regularisation of lands and buildings in view of steep fall in the incomes of people due to coronavirus pandemic.

Hailing the Chief Minister for bringing in a strong new revenue act, the MIM leader also suggested the creation of Green Zones in Greater Hyderabad, which was growing at a faster pace. He also applauded Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao for taking up several measures for the development of Hyderabad as a global city.