The Hindu : Karnataka News : Second phase of survey of Wakf property on: Mirajuddin Patel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 20, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Second phase of survey of Wakf property on: Mirajuddin Patel

By T.S. Ranganna

BANGALORE, DEC. 19. The Minister for Animal Husbandry and Wakf, Mirajuddin Patel, has said that the second phase of survey of lands belonging to the Wakf, some of which were located in prime localities of the State, has been going on and that the Government will take measures to protect them, once it receives the survey report.

Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Patel said that there were 28,636 registered pieces of Wakf property in the State, including those belonging to 9,865 masjids, dargahs and anjumans. The Department had neglected the work of auditing the property for several years. Several pieces of property were under illegal possession, some were encroached upon and the tenants, who were on lease for decades, have refused to increase the lease amount, which was very meagre. Some property could not be developed because of litigations, he added.

Discussions

Mr. Patel said that it was not easy to solve the problem overnight and that he has been engaging those who were in possession of the Wakf property, legally or otherwise, in a discussion and has made some progress. In the last three months, the Minister said, he had solved about 20 per cent of the disputes resulting in an increase in the revenue. Bijapur district had the maximum pieces of Wakf property, while Bangalore had the maximum pieces of property among towns in the State.

He said that the Government was getting about Rs. 3 crores as revenue from some of the important masjids and dargahs and a major portion of it was being spent on imparting education to children of people belonging to minority communities.

Loans

He said that the Wakf Department had also lent loans for developing Wakf property and loans amounting to Rs.1 crore had been disbursed in the last six months. About 20 proposals are under consideration. The Minister said that madrasas were operating in about 300 masjids registered under the Wakf, but there were many more in the private sector.

Veterinary doctors

About the shortage of veterinary doctors in the State, Mr. Patel said that 852 posts of veterinary medical officers, 2,000 posts of inspectors, both junior and senior, and 1,500 posts of Group "D" employees were vacant.

There were 316 doctors on contract, and a proposal for confirming their services was before the Chief Minister for getting Cabinet approval. The Finance Department had approved a proposal to recruit 250 doctors and applications had been called for filling the posts. A proposal to recruit Group "D" group employees was pending before the Finance Department, he said.

Mr. Patel said that he had directed the Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers of the zilla panchayats to pool the unspent money available in the Backward Class Development Corporation, the SC/ST Development Corporation and Minority Development Corporation and use it for giving loans to the beneficiaries for buying high yielding milch cows such as Jersey cow and sheiba sheep.

He said that he had disbursed loans to 600 persons in Gulbarga and Bidar districts. No loan had been disbursed in the last four years.

He said that the Department was encouraging people to buy African sheep and goat, which gave more meat. The African sheep also produced more wool.

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