12 % quota for Muslims demanded

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind urged the TRS government to immediately implement 12 per cent reservation to the Muslim minorities in government services and order a CBI inquiry into the encroachments of Waqf lands. Speaking to the media here on Sunday, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind state president Hamid Mohammed Khan recalled that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had assured the Muslims at a meeting on Nizam College Grounds in Hyderabad on February 7, 2010 that 12 per cent quota would be provided to the Muslim minorities within four months after the formation of Telangana State.

But now, even after 17 months of coming to power KCR has not fulfilled his promise, he regretted. He pointed out that TRS also included 12 per cent reservations to Muslims in its elections manifesto last year but forgot about it after coming to power. Reminding that several Waqf properties were in the clutches of corporate companies and land grabbers, Mohammad Khan demanded the Chief Minister to implement his pre-poll promise of CBI inquiry into the encroachments of Waqf properties.

He wanted the government to accord judiciary powers to the Waqf Board. Stating that only 17 employees were working in Minority Welfare Corporation as against required staff of 300, he said that it would not be possible for the government to spend Rs 1,037 crore funds, which were allocated in the budget, with the present staff.

He urged the State government to fill up the required staff in the Minorities Welfare Corporation. Expressing his strong displeasure over the continuing suicides of farmers in the State, Mohammed Khan demanded that the State government announce an agriculture policy on the lines of industrial policies to save the distressed farmers. He ticked off the legislators of all political parties for not raising the demand in the Legislative Assembly for the implementation of recommendations made by Swaminathan Commission.

He strongly criticised the TRS government for trying to wash its hands off on farmer suicides by attributing them to the failure of the previous governments. He felt that the TRS government was solely responsible for the farmer suicides in its period and had the responsibility to stop them. Jamaat-e-Islami Hind state general secretary M M Baig Jahed, regional organiser Md Abdul Majeed and others were also present.