VIJAYAPURA, BIDAR, CHIKKODI: Amid the waqf land controversy in the state, more cases where the waqf board has taken over land belonging to farmers and religious institutions are coming to light.
At Yaragal BK village in Sindagi taluk, the waqf board has taken over 8.12 acres of land belonging to the Siddha Shankaralinga Math. The land was donated to the math by the Sindagi Kulkarni family in 1952.
The land in question was in the name of Shankaralinga Mahapurusha, but in 2018-19, the name of Yatim Shah Wali Jamia Masjid Sunni Waqf Board was inserted. Math seer Siddaraju Swami has expressed anger and pointed out that the land was gifted by the Kulkarni family. He demanded that the land be registered in the math’s name.
At Chatnahalli in Bidar taluk, the waqf board has taken over 960 acres of agricultural land which the villagers had been cultivating for 50-60 years. In 2013, the then deputy commissioner P C Jaffer had transferred land belonging to more than 350 farmers to the waqf board. As a result, the farmer are unable to avail the benefits of any of the government schemes even as they have been fighting a legal battle for the last 11 years.
Meanwhile, in Terdal taluk of Bagalkot district, 111 farmers have received notices from the Waqf Board in Bengaluru as recent as August and May 2024, with claims over 420 acres in different villages. The farmers had received notices in 2017 and 2018 too.
The notices said that the villagers had encroached upon land belonging to the Jamia masjid and Idgah masjid in Terdal and asked the farmers to present themselves before the board in Bengaluru. But surprisingly, none of the documents show the land to be of the waqf board.
Appa Singh Rajput, a farmer at Examba village in Chikkodi taluk, was also shocked to see the waqf board’s name in his land records. The records for five acres show the name of Bhima Singh, Santosh, Umesh and Appa Singh together, but also lists the waqf board as the land owner. The development has shocked the farmers in the village.