Plaint lodged against 'missing' Urdu Academy chairman

Hyderabad: A delegation, led by president of Sufi Ulema Council, Moulana Mohammed Hakeem Khairuddin Sufi, lodged a 'missing' complaint at Abids police station on Wednesday, seeking an expeditious search of the chairman of Urdu Academy, after being absent from the office for a long time.

Moulana Mohammed Khairuddin Sufi, said "Even though a non-Urdu speaking chairman was imposed on us, we accepted it under coercion, to at least witness the Urdu Academy being functional. However, we found that the chairman is failing to attend the office regularly, leaving a deserted look behind. Whenever we visit the office to promote the Urdu language, we find him absent." He added that measures pertaining to the promotion of Urdu language have taken a back seat since the past few years.

"However, a ray of hope had emerged a few months ago when the chairman was appointed, but that too is diminishing as we find him absent whenever we made a visit to the office and against this background, we lodged a missing complaint at Abids police station with a request to trace the official found missing for several months," he argued.

"After a long time, the chairman's post vacancy at the Academy was filled in July 2022, without a governing body to operate appropriately. Measures on Urdu language promotion took a complete back seat due to the absence of proper government patronage and the lack of a dedicated Urdu speaking chairman further deteriorated the situation. No budgets were allotted since 2019, crippling the Urdu Academy to operate", bemoaned Syed Iftekhar Hussaini, a wakf activist.