Saahil Suhail
anantnag, Mar 4: Levelling serious charges of discrimination and irregularities, on the Muslim Waqaf Board, headed by the Chief Minister, locals have rued that while shrines of Srinagar have been developed on priority, work on Kaba Marg Shrine in Anantnag has lingered on since 2003.
Locals as well as the Waqaf Committee in South Kashmir here believe that the Muslim Waqaf Board that is already under the scanner for irregularities and mismanagement, is discriminating amongst religious shrines in rural areas.
Kaba Marg Shrine and Srinagar Hazratbal shrine both have great religious importance but in comparison to Srinagar dargah the shrine is giving a deserted look. Locals here said that in year 2003 Shrine came under the board and from then they started working on the half completed project which still awaits completion.
"In year 2003 we got under the board at that time we had completed half of the construction of Jamia Masjid. They did some work on second story of the Masjid but after few months building developed cracks because of poor material and from then they never visited the shrine," said one of the Waqaf members of the shrine. Local Awqaf Committee president, Bashir Ahmad in the premises of Shrine told this reporter, "This project awaits completion from 2003, from time to time we approached them but they are ignoring us just like we are from some any other race, they don't even allow us to visit their office and it is clear that they are discriminating us or our shrines because of rural urban factor.
Local Waqaf body has demanded return of money that the shrine has generated from past years and has demanded immediate intervention of Chief Minister. "If they can't complete the project I would like to tell them to return the money that the shrine has generated," Bashir Ahmad in presence of other members said. When contacted, Secretary of Jammu Kashmir Muslim Waqaf Board ruled out any kind of discrimination and said, " We are working on the project and it will take time." |
