JOIN US'2-acre land identified for Hajj Bhavan'
With Mangalore being one of the embarkation points for Hajj pilgrims to fly to Hajj, the ministry of Wakf and Hajj has identified two acre land near Mangalore International Airport in Kenjar, for constructing Hajj Bhavan.
Addressing mediapersons after inspecting the identified land on Sunday, Wakf and Hajj Minister Qamar-ul Islam said that 40 cents of land is available on one side of the road and 160 cents of land is available on the other side of the road in Kenjar. I have instructed the department officer to immediately fence the land at a cost of Rs 3.5 lakh which has been sanctioned for the purpose.
The process of constructing the building will be started soon and the building will be completed by 2015. Hajj Ghar will facilitate pilgrims from five districts namely, DK, Udupi, Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Hassan. Approximately 1,000 pilgrims travel to Hajj from Mangalore embarkation point and the number is likely to reach 2,000 in next five to 10 years. Provisions will be made in the Hajj Ghar to accommodate 2,000 pilgrims, he said.
Information centres
The Minister spoke about the department’s initiative to set up information centres in 10 selected district headquarters in first phase.
The government has set aside Rs 14 crore for consolidating the offices of district minority department, Karnataka Minority Development Corporation, district Wakf Board. As many as 10 districts have been chosen for the purpose for taking up the work. Each building will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs one crore.
“Apart from the department offices, the building will also have information centres to impart information about various minority schemes of the State and Central governments and how to avail them. Two employees will be recruited in the information centre. Of the 10 districts, eight districts have identified land for the purpose and the information centres will begin functioning on temporary offices before December end,” Qamar-ul Islam said.
Wakf property survey
Commenting on the Wakf Act amendment making it mandatory for all state Wakf boards to survey the Wakf property, he said survey has been completed for about 70 per cent in Karnataka. The first gazette of the survey will be published by December 31 and the second gazette will be published after the completion of the survey by July end, he said. He also said that the government has issued an order two days ago, for recruiting 300 employees for minority department under C & R rules.
The selected candidates will be offered a training to understand various aspects of minorities, and the government has granted Rs one crore for offering training.
Upgrade villages, ULBs
Qamar-ul Islam who also heads the ministry of Municipal Administration, said that the plans of upgrading town municipalities, town panchayats and villages are on pipeline. As per the 2011 census, 18 town municipalities will be upgraded and city municipalities and 15 town panchayats will be upgraded as town municipalities.
According to the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, as many as 164 villages will be upgraded as town panchayats. “The ministry has written to the respective deputy commissioners to work on the proposal. Nearly 80 per cent of the selected villages have passed resolution on the proposal of upgrading,” he said.