Haryana Waqf board fetes CM Manohar Lal Khattar for raising imams’ pay

GURUGRAM: The Haryana Waqf Board on Thursday honoured chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar for announcing an increase of 50% in the salaries of imams. A special event was organised by the board at Gurugram University.
According to the board, the government has announced a direct increase of Rs 5,000 in salaries, followed by a 5% increase every year. There are some 700 imams in the state.
With this decision, the effective salaries of 423 regular imams under the Waqf board have been hiked from Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000 to Rs 13,000-Rs 15,000.
Besides, the salaries of a total of 313 additional imams have also been increased by Rs 5,000.
Speaking at the event, Khattar said that the decision was taken with the intention of bringing people from various groups to the mainstream of the society, “without any discrimination or prejudices”.
“Our intention is to encourage every group of the society to come forward and work in the mainstream towards social harmony and progress. We hope the Waqf board will work towards the betterment of the society and people,” he said.
A similar policy is being considered for the priests of temples across Haryana, the CM said. “The state government is working to bring their salaries to at least the minimum wage limit.”
During Thursday’s meeting with 25 imams, Khattar also discussed the issue of development and education in Nuh and urged them to encourage people to take part in the formal education system of the country.
“We also discussed the need for industrialisation and increasing the scope of education in Nuh. Our government is committed to mainstreaming every group and community in the society without any discrimination,” he stressed.
In September last year, the state government had announced its decision to hike the salaries of the imams who come under the Haryana Waqf Board. This was the first hike since 2016.
The Waqf board, on its part, said that the hike would go a long way in improving the state of the mosques in the state. Besides, it will also encourage various social works in different fields such as education by the board.
“This is indeed a historic decision taken by any chief minister in the country,” said Waqf board administrator Zakir Hussain.
“The CM has shown that the government works for people without any discrimination and that he has paternal concerns for all 36 communities in the state. Other states such as Punjab are now following in the footsteps of Haryana,” he said.
The board also announced that in the coming few weeks, it will hold a mega event where some 700 imams in the state will gather to express their gratitude towards the CM.