The Telangana Government on Monday launched the schemed for payment of monthly honorarium of Rs. 1,000 to Imams and Maozans of 551 mosques across the State.
Since the announcement for payment of honorarium was made by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on 9th July 2015, the Imams and Maozans were paid honorariums with effect from July 2015. Speaking on the occasion at Haj House in Nampally, Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali informed that a total of 8,901 applications were received from Imams and Maozans of different mosque for honorarium. They include 1493 applications from Hyderabad alone. Of them, 551 have been finalised after verification. He said remaining applications too would be cleared after verification.
The Deputy CM said that the State Government would make direct deposit the honorarium in the accounts of all beneficiaries from next month onwards. The applicants will have to prove that they are working with a particular mosque continuously for the last one year. He described the scheme as one of its kind in the country and said it would help thousands of poor Imams and Maozans.
Meanwhile, Nampally MLA Jaffer Hussain Meraj urged the government to increase the honorarium amount and said Rs. 1,000 was too meager. The Deputy CM has assured to take up the issue with KCR.
The meeting was also addressed by MLCs Farooq Hussain, MS Prabhakar and Mohammed Saleem, Deputy Mayor Baba Fasiuddin, Minorities Welfare Department Secretary Omer Jaleel, Wakf Board CEO Md Asadullah and other senior officials. (INN)