Hyderabad: Telangana government has given the nod for leasing of Waqf properties for a period of 30 years. The government has identified 11 properties in the city and outskirts, including 1.2 acres land of Masjid Aalamgir, 2000-sqyd land of Moin Manzil, 6000 sqyds land of Dargah Hazrat Barhana Shah, which will be leased for a period of 30 years. The move will help boost revenue of the Telangana State Waqf Board.
The government order stated that although Waqf Board is having over 77,000 acres in Waqf land parcels, it falls short of funds to run operations on a `day-to-day’ basis. The order also noted that there are several parcels which are located at prime areas like Begumpet and Tolichowki.
According to an official long-term leasing of lands will allow the board to get better clients with tenants ready to pay higher rents. It must be noted that leasing for long term has been permitted by the new amendment Act.
However experts are apprehensive to the fact that some of the lands are under litigations due to which it would not be easy for Waqf Board to lease them out. Until the cases are settled, no private company will come forward to take them on lease.
Leasing out the lands will help the cause of Waqf and aims at boosting Waqf revenue but Waqf Board will require a lot of time for the whole process of leasing out the properties as the lands will have to be made dispute free before leasing them out.