JORHAT, Oct 14 - At a press conference here on Tuesday, office-bearers of the Ujani Asom Muslim Kalyan Parishad said that they would provide all necessary support to the Assam Board of Wakfs to recover encroached land and property for the poor and needy people of their community and others.
Expressing serious concern over the encroachment on several plots of land at Fancy Bazar, Pan Bazar and many other areas of Guwahati and at several other districts of the State, the secretary of the organisation, M Rafique Hussain, hoped that the recent announcement of a judicial probe into the matter would detect the persons involved in the cases of corruption and mismanagement of Wakf funds.
The chairman of the Assam Board of Wakfs, Nekibur Zaman, who was also present at the press conference, alleged that land mafia, capitalists and corrupt people hatched a conspiracy to oust him from the top post after he demanded that the State Government should conduct a proper investigation into the cases of massive corruption and mismanagement of funds.
�After joining as the chairman of the board in July 2014, I sought a proper inquiry into the cases of encroachment on Wakf land and property. A section of encroachers, including land mafia, corrupt government officials and other people with vested interests, tried to oust me as the Chief Minister�s announcement of a judicial probe caused problems for them,� said Zaman.
He added that the Government has already ordered a survey of the Wakf property and land, which has not been done since the last 58 years. As there was no survey of the Wakf property and land for several decades, a section of corrupt politicians, government officials and land mafia helped certain capitalists in Guwahati and other places to encroach on the land and property.
Zaman said that the Assam Board of Wakfs has over 15,800 bighas of land in the State as per a survey of 1958 and most of the land area is now under encroachment.
The Wakf Board chairman also claimed that the amount of rent and revenue has shown a rise in the last two years as he has been keeping a close vigil on their collection and deposit.
