Issue White Paper On Income, Expenditure Of Past 30 Years: Altaf Thakur Asks Waqf Board

‘Sad to see Board not maintaining shrines under it, delaying salary of its own employees a bad omen’                  White Paper

Srinagar: Bhartiya Jatana Party (BJP) Jammu and Kashmir UT spokesman Altaf Thakur on Wednesday asked the UT administration led by Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandera Murmu to build pressure on the Waqf Board to issue a white paper on the income and expenditure of the past 30 years.

Thakur said that it was an irony that despite the fact that people of Kashmir pay crores of rupees as charity every year and yet the Board is not able to pay monthly salaries to its employees.

In a statement issued to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Thakur said that only one shrine that of Awantipore is the source of Rs 50 lakh a year for the Waqaf Board let alone the charity of revered shrine of Hazratbal which houses the holy relic of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Thakur said that every year Waqaf Board gets charity both in the form cash and kind. However, most of the shrines lack safety measures and lack basic facilities.

The BJP chief said that Kashmir has hundreds of sufi shrines which come under Waqaf Board but the irony is that majority of shrines are not properly maintained by the Board despite getting huge charity amount on monthly as well as yearly basis.

In the past 30 years, Thakur said that Waqaf Board should have constructed at least two Universities and a series of colleges and other educational institutions given its income status. However, Board is not able to pay monthly salaries to its own employees, how come it would set up educational institutions.

“I urge the Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandera Murmu to set up a probe panel to find out assets, income and expenditure of waqaf Board. The Board should also come out with a white paper on its come and expenditure of past 30 years,” said Thakur.