The saga of mismanagement of waqf properties has spilled over from the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana. With over 33,929 properties across the State, the Telangana State Waqf Board (TSWB) faces a host of crises, including hundreds of court cases, staffing issues, encroachments and utilisation of land parcels.
Consider this: per the first waqf survey, the 33,929 waqf properties in the State translate into 77,583 acres, of which 57,423 acres have been encroached upon. This means that nearly 75% of waqf lands are encroached.
Ahead of the 2014 elections, the then Telangana Rashtra Samithi, had promised more teeth to the TSWB in the form of giving it judicial powers. This was a long-standing demand of Muslim groups. The rationale behind the demand was to empower the board to deal with encroachments better, and to a certain extent, directly. But this has not materialised.
