The Karnataka Waqf Board has laid claim to over 70 government properties in the state’s historic city of Srirangapatna. These properties include government land, the Tipu Sultan Arsenal as well as several buildings of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the State Archeology, Museums and Heritage Department. Earlier, the Waqf Board had grabbed more than 1,200 acres of agricultural land of farmers in Vijayapura in the state by declaring it as Waqf property.
Star of Mysore your report In Srirangapatna Taluk these properties are recorded as Waqf Board properties in the official RTC (Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops) documents. The special thing is that the building of the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage ‘Sri Chamarajendra Memorial Government Museum at Srirangapatna’ has also been listed as Waqf property.
Besides this, several agricultural plots owned by farmers in Srirangapatna town and taluk have also been listed as Karnataka State Waqf Board property. This has created concern among farmers. The Waqf Board has also laid claim to the Chikkamma Chikkadevi temple in Mahadevapura village and a government school in Chandagalu village. This has spread anger among the people.
The claims on heritage sites and government lands come just months after farmers in Karnataka’s Vijayapura received notices. Actually, this Waqf claim is related to 1,200 acres of land in Honwada village of Tikota taluka. The Waqf had claimed that the authorities were trying to designate the area as Shah Aminuddin Dargah, a religious institution of Muslims.
Regarding this, officials in the Congress government of Karnataka had also issued a notice to the farmers to vacate the land. Sunil Shankarappa Tudigal, vice president of Honwada Gram Panchayat, had said, “The notice claims that this land belongs to Shah Aminuddin Dargah, but this Dargah has not existed for centuries and our family has owned this land for generations.”
Shankarappa further claimed, “Around 41 farmers have received notices asking them to provide ownership records. We are the real owners of these lands. If the government does not withdraw these notices, we will protest on a large scale.” The opposition party BJP had also largely opposed this attitude of the government.
After the anger of the farmers, the Karnataka government has ordered all the regional Commissioners and District Commissioners Had written a letter and warned. The government had said that disciplinary action would be taken against officers who make changes in land registration records and issue eviction notices to farmers under the Waqf Act.
