Govt will not remove temples built on Waqf properties: Siddaramaiah

NT Correspondent

Belagavi

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday assured the Karnataka Assembly that the government will not remove those temples which are built on Waqf properties. In case notices have been served to them, then they will be withdrawn, he said. During a discussion on the issue of the Waqf Board issuing eviction notices to farmers, temples and many other individuals, the Chief Minister said, "If temples have been built on Waqf properties then we will not remove them. I am making it very clear. In case any notice has been issued, they (notices) will be withdrawn." As the raging Waqf issue echoed in the Assembly with the BJP raising it, the Waqf and Minority Affairs Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan clarified that if notices were given to farmers and temples then they will be withdrawn.

The Chief Minister too reiterated Khan's statement and said no farmer will be evicted from the land they have been tilling. The BJP legislator Araga Jnanendra demanded that properties mentioned in government records as Waqf should also be removed as the mere withdrawal of notices will not serve the purpose. The Leader of the Opposition BJP, R. Ashoka, justified the demand by saying that there were 110 Kuruba families in the Krishna Raja constituency, in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's home district of Mysuru, who have been running from pillar to post to get the notices removed. They have submitted several memoranda to Siddaramaiah, but to no avail.

He said there are hundreds of such instances where people face hardship by such notices. Minister Khan reminded the BJP that it was in its manifesto in 2014 there was a promise to remove encroachment on Waqf properties. The Chief Minister underlined the need to save the Waqf properties saying that there were 1.10 lakh acres of Waqf properties in the state which now reduced to just 20,000 acres due to various provisions of law such as the Inam Abolition Act as well as encroachment.