At a time when a section of people in north Bengal is demanding the cancellation of the amended Waqf Act, senior officials of the West Bengal Waqf Board have launched a special drive to recover properties allegedly encroached upon by non-Muslims in various parts of North Bengal, especially in Siliguri.
Under the guidance of West Bengal Waqf Board chairman, Justice Sahidullah Munshi (Retd), a team of high-ranking officials visited several locations in Siliguri, including areas on Sevoke Road, where Waqf properties have reportedly been grabbed. According to allegations, the encroachments were made possible by tampering with official records in connivance with certain employees of the land reforms department.
Justice Munshi also visited Darjeeling and held meetings with senior officials to assess the situation on the ground.
On Wednesday, the Waqf Board team inspected two key sites—one near Panitanki More and the other opposite to Vishal Cinema on Sevoke Road in Siliguri —where commercial constructions have allegedly been set up illegally on Waqf land by a group of businessmen.
It may be noted that the Waqf Board officials had arrived in Siliguri a day earlier and held meetings with the district administrations of both Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, particularly with officials from the land department led by the respective district magistrates. During these meetings, they examined official records to assess how many Waqf properties have been encroached upon over the past two to three decades, especially within the Siliguri Municipal Corporation area, which partially falls under the Rajganj block of Jalpaiguri district.
Sources said that officials used Cadastral Survey (CS) records to verify and identify Waqf-owned plots. Several plots along the left side of Sevoke Road—from Panitanki More to Bhaktinagar police station—have reportedly been taken over by private individuals.
Meanwhile, in Malda district, a committee opposing the amended Waqf Act submitted a 10-point memorandum to the President of India through the district magistrate on Tuesday, demanding the immediate cancellation of the Act introduced by the central government.