Wakf Board tenants demand abrogation of new lease Act
Tribune Reporters
Karnal/Panipat/Sonepat, Jan 12
Demanding the abolition of the new Wakf Lease Act, hundreds of tenants of the Wakf Board took out processions in Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat under the banner of the Wakf Land Holders Association.
The protesters also demanded the scraping of the Wakf Board, besides giving them the right to property.
The protesters also threatened to hold a state-level rally in Karnal on January 23 if their demands were not accepted.
In Karnal, the protesters gathered in Sector-12 and then marched towards the Mini Secretariat, where they submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to the tehsildar. In Panipat, the tenants assembled at Geeta Mandir and then took out a procession towards the Mini Secretariat after passing through various markets and the GT Road. They handed over the memorandum to the ADC.
Yogesh Arora, one of the protesters in Panipat, said the government should abolish the Wakf Board and give the right to property to the tenants. Vijay Girdhar, one of the tenants in Karnal, said under the Wakf (Amendment) Act, 2013, they had been asked to vacate the land on which they have been operating their business for more than the past 50 years.
They had constructed buildings on the land of the board and paying rent, which was much more than the estimated value of the land, so the tenants should be given the right to property, he demanded.
Municipal Councillor Sudarshan Kalra said it was a draconian law which would not be tolerated as the new amendments would displace lakhs of people.
As per the new amendments, the Wakf Board would invite fresh bids to rent out its premises instead of extending the lease period for three years with 15 per cent increase in the rent, said Krishan Lal Taneja, president Veopar Mandal, Karnal.
Meanwhile in Sonepat, Wakf land lease holders took out a protest march in the town. Led by association president Ashish Arya, the protesters raised slogans against the implementation the Act. Various associations of the traders and the Haryana Beopar Mandal also extended support to the protesters.
Arya said the new Act was being implemented to uproot a large number of lease holders in the country. “It is a conspiracy to displace the people who migrated from Pakistan more than six decades ago,” he said.
Later, they submitted a memorandum addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to Sonepat SDM Nishany Yadav. A similar protest was organised in Jind as well.
