Last Updated on December 6, 2020 at 7:36 pm
Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Friday (December 4) that Waqf Boards will soon be set up in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and process for the same has already started.
The Union Minister made this statement after chairing a Central Waqf Council meeting. He announced that Waqf Boards will be established in the Jammu-Kashmir and the Leh-Kargil areas for the first time since Independence of the nation. He said that this decision could only be possible after the revocation of Article 370. Naqvi ensured that the Waqf Boards in Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will make sure that Waqf properties are properly used for the welfare of society.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karykram (PMJVK), the central government will provide sufficient financial resources to develop infrastructure for socio-economic and educational activities on Waqf properties in the region.
He said that the government has started to register thousands of Waqf properties in the Jammu-Kashmir and the Leh-Kargil areas. He also said that digitisation, geo-tagging or GPS mapping of these Waqf properties has also been started and is expected to complete soon.
The Union Minister also took note of bungling and encroachment of Waqf properties by “Waqf mafias” in many states and asked state governments to take strict actions in such cases. He assured that a team of the Central Waqf Council will visit these states for this case.
The Minority Affairs minister promised that the central government will construct schools, colleges, hospitals, polytechnics, girls hostels, ITIs, multi-purpose community halls ‘Sadbhav Mandap’, ‘Hunar Hub’, employment-oriented skill development centres, common service centres and other basic infrastructure on Waqf land in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh under the PMJVK similar to other parts of the country. This institutions will provide quality education for the needy and employment opportunities to the youths.
Naqvi pointed out that earlier, only 90 districts of the nation had been marked for the development of minority communities, the current government has expanded development programmes for minorities in 308 districts, 870 blocks, 331 towns and thousands of the villages across the nation. The Union Minister said that digitisation of all the state Waqf boards is over.
