Stall owners at Nampally Dargah reluctant to vacate encroached area

Hyderabad: At least 40 stall owners in Yousufain Dargah are up in arms against TS Wakf Board, which wants to remove the shops alleging that they have illegally encroached upon the graves.

The stall owners claim that they had paid Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh to the former Mutawalli and have been paying monthly rents. Even as the TS Wakf Board is preparing itself to take up development works worth several lakhs of rupees at Dargah Yousufain, the question of relocation or rehabilitation of existing stalls remained unanswered by the authorities.

Stall owners in Yousufain Dargah are a worried lot, after the recent visit of Wakf Board Chairman, Md Saleem, who declared that about 40 stalls were ‘illegal’. These stalls are there for several years and have been paying monthly rents of about Rs 6,000 for the past some years. But the officials are in no mood to listen to their pleas, they say.

“These shops are run by families for generations to earn their bread and butter. Authorities cannot take a decision overnight without any assurance for relocation or rehabilitation. The chairman of Wakf Board was not willing even to listen to their pleas, said Naseem, one of the stall owners. Several shop owners claim that about four years ago, they were made to pay more than Rs 1 lakh for regularisation of the place.

The then special officer Shaik Mohammed Iqbal gave his nod for regularisation and also fixed the rent. He also directed the officials to issue receipts to the shops for payment of rents. Money was collected; but no receipts were issued by the Muttawali. Following this, 14 stall owners had approached the court over the issue, said Ahmed, another stall owner.

When The Hans India spoke to some shop owners, they said they had paid money to former Mutawalli, Faisal Ali Shah, who has already been facing several charges. Another trader, whose family has been running business for more than six decades, was asked to pay Rs 1.5 lakh within 24 hours. He alleged that power connection was cut to his shop. Mohammed Siraj had paid Rs 2.5 lakh about 4 years back; Rs 2 lakh each were paid by families of Mohsin and Hamed.

“We are ready to shift our business, if secure and sufficient place is shown,” said Mohsin. There are around 170 shops located in the Dargah area and about 40 shops have come up on the graves over a period of time. The Wakf Board Chairman went around the Dargah premises located in Nampally recently and directed the stall owners to remove the encroachments. He warned that if they fail to do so, the stalls will be pulled down with the help of GHMC and the police department.

By Md Nizamuddin