OVER RS. 23 CRORE PROVIDED BY CENTRE TO DEVELOP WAKF PROPERTIES
The Centre has provided
Rs. 23.82 crore as grant-in-aid to the Central Wakf Council for
protection and development of Wakf properties. The Central Wakf
Council has in turn extended loan to 110 projects under the Development
of Urban Wakf Properties Scheme. Out of these, 67 projects have
been completed. The highest number of 42 schemes are in Karnataka,
which have been advanced loans worth Rs. 11.37 crore. Tamil Nadu
has been given Rs. 2.18 crore for 18 projects and Andhra Pradesh
Rs. 1.37 crore for 12 projects. The others states having such
projects are Bihar (9), Kerala (7), Orissa (6), Maharasthra (5),
Delhi and Rajasthan (3 each), Uttar Pradesh (2) and Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh and Manipur (one each). The Ministry of Social Justice
and Empowerment released Rs. 1.58 crore for eight projects during
the last financial year. These include the development project
of women hospital at Malerkotla in Punjab for which Rs. 35.70
lakh have been advanced as loan. The other notable projects are
of Amin-e-Shariat Education Trust at Dhroe (Jamnagar) in Gujarat
and H.M.S. Education Society at Tumkur in Karnataka. Seven new
projects were approved by the Ministry in March this year.
The Council has also
advanced loans amounting to Rs. 4.38 crores for development of
83 minor projects upto Rs. 20 lakh per project. These loans have
been advanced from the Revolving Fund of the Council. The Revolving
Fund is constituted with the repayment loan amount by the loanee
Wakf institutions.
The Development of
Urban Wakf Properties Scheme has been in operation since 1974-75
with yearly grant-in-aid from the Central Government. The objective
of the Scheme is to protect vacant Wakf land from encroachers
and to develop it on commercial lines for generating more income
for use in welfare activities.
