Although there are a lot of Waqf properties worth crores of rupees in and around the city which if exploited commercially can raise huge income to spend for the welfare of the community but more importantly 50% of the Hajj House building where State Waqf Board, Hajj House, Urdu Academy, Minority Welfare Department and Qazat office work, is vacant. If the vacant rooms of the 11 storied building are used properly it can reap rich dividends for the community. For example on the 10th floor of the Hajj House building a hall was constructed to start job oriented training programme for minority students in the year 2009. The storey with a built-up area of 5000 sqyds was embroidered with the cost of Rs. 50 lakh. The hall has a seating capacity of nearly 150 people with all the facilities like comfortable seats, projectors, screens, granite tables, 8 air conditioners, carpets and lighting arrangements. But unfortunately the state of art hall lied unused for the past 4 years. The hall could have been given on rent for seminars, conferences, meetings, science exhibition, school functions etc, which could have earn lakhs of rupees for state waqf board.
Besides this at least 5 stories lie vacant after Hajj season. After the press conference which was called to announce taking over of waqf properties Madina education centre, when he was told about the 10th storey of the building Special Officer Waqf Board Shaikh Mohammed Iqbal assured to take necessary steps to raise income from that. He told that Waqf Board earns Rs. 7 crore yearly while it should have earned Rs. 700 crore annually.
Siasat news