Muslim welfare board seeks land for graveyards

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 8

The Punjab Muslim Welfare Development Board has demanded the land for graveyards. Deputy commissioners of some districts have already been direct to locate the land for graveyards of the community.

Dilbag Hussain, chairman of the board, said the Christian community was also demanding land for graveyards since the Christian and Muslim communities in several areas had been forced to use the same graveyard.

He said the Punjab Government had directed the DCs of various districts to locate the land and remove encroachments. He said he had been holding meetings with Muslim leaders of various districts to know their views over the issue. He came to know through interactions that the community had not been issued SC, ST or BC certificates. Later, he took up the matter with CM Parkash Singh Badal, who notified that the Muslims would get all ST category benefits.

Hussain said Punjab was the only state in the country where communal riots had never erupted since independence. Therefore, the Muslim community that constituted only 2 per cent of the population of the state had been living peacefully, he said.

He said by constituting the Punjab Muslim Welfare Development Board, the government had been trying to fulfill genuine demands of the community. He said the complexity in getting marriage certificates had been minimised by the state government.