Wakf properties lie undeveloped

While the Centre on Monday announced plans to construct schools and malls on Wakf properties, similar plans by the the State government to develop such properties have failed to take off.

Officials of the Telangana State Wakf Board (TSWB), including its chairman Mohammed Saleem, had attended a Central Wakf Council meeting chaired by Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. “We were told that a large portion of the funding to develop Wakf properties would be borne by the Centre and the rest would be borne by the State. This is a method to protect Wakf properties. We have welcomed the decision,” Mr. Saleem said.

But it was in February 2017 that the Minorities Welfare Department identified properties on the city outskirts that would be developed and leased for 30 years. But the beleaguered board failed to move forward. “The plan was to call for tenders for more than 10 such properties. The then secretary of the department wanted e-tendering to be done. A year later, nothing materialised. There was no file movement and the board has been caught up in other issues such as shortage of staff,” said an official who did not wish to be identified.

The fate of the structure south of the Haj House too is the same. While intentions were announced during the previous board’s tenure in undivided Andhra Pradesh to increase its revenue by constructing a commercial complex, it was last year that the plans changed drastically. Chandrayangutta legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi, who was accompanied by a phalanx of officials, said the structure should house offices and agencies of the Minorities Welfare Department. “Much like the other development projects of Wakf properties, no office has moved in. The structure is still bare-shell. A final call will be taken by the government in conjunction with the board,” the official said.