Hyderabad: A Revenue Mandal Office (RMO) is being planned opposite the historic Al Maas Masjid in Choutuppal area of the city’s outskirt.
According to report, the Almaas Masjid has 423 acres of Waqaf land. If the RMO is constructed the access way to the mosque would be narrowed, the locals said.. The locals allege that it is a conspiracy to render the Mosque to dis-use to easily occupy this sprawling Auqaaf land.
A team of Congress minority leaders visited the mosque and its lands. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee’s spokesman Syed Nizamuddin, Organizing Secretary Osman Mohammed Khan, Mateen Sharif and other Congress leaders met the local residents at Choutuppal and gathered information.
It is said that only a day ago the RMO and other officials marked the land for RMO building and the construction work may start any time
The Congress leaders expressed their regret that due to the silence of Waqaf Board the Government Departments have occupied 423 acres of Waqf land illegally.
It is said that in spite of the locals protest the water reservoir work under Mission Bhagirtha has been executed.
In 2011, the locals said, the Waqaf Board has issued 2113 notices. But regretfully, the Waqaf Board failed to protect its lands.
According to Osman Mohammed Khan and Nizamuddin, the preparation work for RMO office construction is almost complete.
In view of the locals complaint a team of the Waqaf Board officials visited the place but returned without taking any action.
The graveyard under the mosque has been encroached completely and many industrial units came up on that land.
The Waqaf Board’s Rangareddy Inspector, the locals allege, is maintaining a criminal silence.
It is an irony that on one hand, the Chief Minister issued GO 15 barring the transfer of Waqaf lands and shown his seriousness in protecting Auqaf properties and on the other hand the government’s departments themselves are trying to encroach and misappropriate the Waqaf lands.
It is also an irony that the Revenue department whose primary task is to protect the Auqaf lands is encroaching such land to construct its new office.
The Congress leaders urge the state’s Home Minister Mohammed Mehmood Ali and the Waqaf Board Chairman Mohammed Salim to visit Almas Masjid at Choutuppal to end the illegal encroachment of the Waqaf lands.
The Congress leaders plan a big protest at Choutuppal and shall organise a “Gherao” of the Waqaf Board office in the days to come.