CHARMINAR: As the

Board seeks to

its efforts to act against encroachment by training its staff and making land records transparent, activists said residential properties and schools were coming up over mosques attached to Waqf lands in the city.

Waqf activists said there were several encroachments where private properties were built over mosques but no action has been taken by the authorities. “A Qutub Shahi

has been encroached by an

school in Shaikpet. In the Old City mosques are run from houses after people encroached Waqf lands,” said Mohammed Habeebuddin, a Waqf activist. “The State Wakf Board has not more than 15 inspector-auditors who take care of all issues pertaining to Wakf properties in 31 districts of the state. It is quite impossible for the Waqf Board to take care of thousands of acres of land with a small workforce. It is high time the government appointed more staff to take care of these properties,” said Habeebuddin.

Meanwhile, faced with staff shortage, the board is recruiting employees on outsourcing and training the staff to be tech-savvy in matters of encroachment through digitizing land records and system management.

Waqf Board officials said more than 60,000 files were digitized so far and they have been sending notices to the GHMC, revenue and police department to evict encroachers.