Vijayawada, July 31: A special task force will be constituted to protect the wakf land in the state, minority welfare minister Mohammed Ahmadulla Syed said here on Saturday. The special task force will be appointed soon after completion of the enumeration of properties and assets owned by the wakf board in the state. According to the minister, the enumeration of the wakf land has already been taken up and that the details of the land available in each district will be posted online.
Addressing the media here, Ahmadulla said that he would review the status of wakf land district-wise in order to protect the land from land grabbers. In view of the complaints of large scale encroachment of wakf land across the state, the government would use all its powers to take back such land from the clutches of land grabbers, the minister asserted.
However, the minister expressed the state’s helplessness in granting funds for the construction of mosques due to a court litigation.
“We can’t release funds for construction of mosques as the AP High Court has stayed the release of funds,” he explained. He said that the minority welfare department had been authorised to clear the fee-reimbursement dues of the minority students in order to avoid delay. He said that so far, they have paid about Rs 250 crore to the colleges under fee-reimbursement scheme and another Rs150 crore towards scholarships.
He said that Rs 33 crore was released for about 1314 students under merit-cum-means scheme. “We are committed to the welfare of the minorities as chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has accorded top priority for the education needs of the minority students, particularly girl children,” claimed Ahmadulla. He said that Rs 68 crore was released for pre-metric scholarships in addition to the last year’s dues of Rs 89 crore.
–Agencies