Members of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal- Panwar faction staged a protest demonstration at the Dehradun Collectorate against appointment of retired persons from other States in the Uttarakhand Waqf Board. Strongly criticising the Congress-led State Government for this, the protesters demanded that the State Government cancel such appointments with immediate effect and appoint members of the minority community from Uttarakhand to these posts.
The party general secretary Sufi Khaliq Ahmed and media in charge Manmohan lakhera alleged that the Congress led State Government is ignoring minority community members of Uttarakhand and appointing retired persons from other States to the Waqf board in an unfair manner. They stressed that such autocratic actions will not be tolerated by the party. “For the past many years the Waqf Board management committee audit has not been conducted. From time to time, we have been eliciting focus on the various anomalies in the functioning of the Waqf Board. We have been demanding action against corruption in the board but the State government has so far avoided taking any action in this regard,” said lakhera.
The UKD protesters further alleged that the State Government is hesitant to conduct an inquiry into allegations of major financial anomalies continuing at the Piran Kaliyar Dargah. If the appointments of those from outside the State are not cancelled, the UKD will undertake agitation on the issue. In first stage of the agitation, the protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister Harish Rawat stating their demands.