Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Wakf Boards in funds row

Hyderabad: Eighteen months after they were bifurcated, the Wakf Boards of Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh are trying to sort out distribution of funds. The AP Wakf Board claims that the TS board has to give it Rs 41 crore. The TS government claims that the AP government has to pay the Telangana Minorities Finance Corporation Rs 100 crore.

According to officials of the two Wakf Boards, both the government came to an agreement in the presence of the Centre with regard to division of funds of Wakf institutions and properties. As per the agreement, Wakf institutions located in AP and TS went to the respective boards. The TS government agreed to give Rs 41 crore held in fixed deposits to the AP Wakf Board.

AP Wakf Board chief executive officer Abdul Khadir said that as per the agreement, the TS board had to pay another Rs 23 crore for the land to the south and north of the Haj House at Nampally, as these had been purchased with funds from the Ishaq Mohiuddin Baba Dargah at Visakhapatnam.

He said that during negotiations the AP Board had asked for land, but the TS board had said that it would pay the land cost with interest from the year 2006. He said that the Haj House cost Rs 9.16 crore, of which Rs 3 crore belonged to AP. It was agreed during bifurcation that Rs 3 crore would be paid to the AP Board by the TS Board as and when it relocated its offices, the Urdu Academy and the Haj Committee.

He said that as per the agreement, the TS Board had to pay Rs 4.5 crore as cash on hand as on September 8, 2015, the date on which the board was bifurcated. The CEO said till date they had received only Rs 5.6 crore. Because it had not received the funds, the Wakf Board was unable to shift to AP. TS Wakf Board officials say the AP Wakf Board and AP government have settle the issue of Rs 100 crore belonging to the Minorities Finance Corporation.

Mr Syed Omar Jaleel, secretary of the TS minorities’ welfare department, “It is not a tussle, but it is fact that there are issues which have to be sort out between the states.” He said that the AP minorities welfare minister had written to the Telangana state government seeking a meeting to sort out the issues. It would be held soon, he said.