Officials confirmed that the Andhra Pradesh government had frozen a State Waqf Board proposal to lease nearly 30,000 acres of Waqf land for commercial development. The state’s minority welfare department issued the order Wednesday, acting on the directions of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, cancelling the April 3 notification by the Waqf Board inviting private parties to submit their expressions of interest to develop parcels of Waqf land across the state.
Having proposed opening up land plots of one acre or above the 200 acres, the board had suggested selling those plots to commercial ventures like petrol stations, shopping complexes, commercial buildings, multiplexes and so on. Interested parties had until May 8 to put their bids forward.
But the Andhra government intervened, leading to male Shia Muslims being boycotted by sections of the Muslim community, including women. Waqf Board chairman Sheikh Abdu Aziz was quoted as suggesting that the notification does not seek to sell or permanently lease out the land to private parties while clarifying what the board’s intent was. He stated that it was just an expression of interest by the Waqf Board for exploratory models of development so that the Waqf Board would start generating income.
Aziz said the aim was to do this by using Waqf resources to aid the Muslim community by giving scholarships to students and helping economically weaker families. “We are discussing ways to make the board self-sufficient in terms of financial resources to take care of welfare programmes.”
However, the notification triggered protests, with critics claiming the notification had started the process of commercial exploitation of such Waqf land. It was termed by former MLA and Muslim community leader Shaik Mastan Vali from Guntur as a ‘systematic attempt to exploit Waqf properties referring to the recent legislative changes through the Waqf Amendment Bill.
However, there is sensitivity surrounding the matter as talks continue at the state administration and minority community level.
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