Hyderabad: The Jamiat Ulema e Hind’s Nizamabad chapter met District Collector Nizamabad and Commissioner of Police Nizamabad on Wednesday, December 13, and submitted a memorandum demanding the authorities protect the wakf notified land admeasuring 4.5 acres in Velpur mandal of Nizamabad.
Tension prevailed recently in Velpur mandal when right-wing activists under the garb of the Village Development Committee (VDC) allegedly tried to occupy the land on the pretext of developmental works in the village.
A huge crowd had gathered on the road leading to the Eidgah and slogans were raised. The police took into custody several persons who are members of the VDC to prevent any major communal flare-up.
Hafiz Laeeq, the President of Jamiat Ulema Nizamabad said for the past several years, the village development committee has been trying to take over this valuable land.
“Last night, the police intervened and foiled the attempt by the Village Development Committee to pave the road on this land,” he said.
On the information about the seizure of the Eidgah’s land, Jamiat Ulema Nizamabad presented a written memorandum to Nizamabad district Collector Rajiv Gandhi Hanmantu and Police Commissioner Kalmeswar.
He said that despite all the documents of this land being listed as waqf, the Village Development Committee has used force to illegally occupy this land in the name of a playground, which, he said, was a cause of concern among the Muslims of Velpur Mandal.
Meanwhile, the police had camped in the area and deployed a huge police force to foil more attempts to forcefully take over the land.
In May this year, the Telangana High Court took serious note of the Village Development Committee for issuing a diktat to socially boycott 300 families of the Mudiraj community in Ramannapet village of Velpur mandal.
The counsel for the Mudiraj community had submitted before the court that poor agricultural labourers of the community were being punished for resisting the attempts of the VDC to store illegally extracted sand in the local temple and the members’ attempt to consume liquor on its premises.
Following the appeal, the Telangana High Court on July 20 directed Tahsildar, Velpur Mandal, to ensure that the members of the Mudiraj Community are not subjected to social boycott in Ramannapet village of Nizamabad district.
A report in the Deccan Chronicle published on May 16, highlighted the role of the Village Development Committee which otherwise has no official status.
In the report, it was highlighted that many villages in the district were under the control of an ‘extrajudicial social class framework’ known as village development committees.
“Dalits in various villages claimed to have faced discrimination and harassment over issues ranging from land to washing clothes, and that those who disobey their extra-constitutional judgments face social boycott, reinforcing Dr Ambedkar’s view that villages were cesspools of caste prejudice,” the report further said.
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