Amid the controversy over Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar’s remarks on “namaz”, the State Government on Tuesday decided to provide the status equal to the Minister of State to the chairman of Haryana State Waqf Board, MlA Raheesh Khan.
Raheesh Khan would be entitled for all the facilities being provided to a Minister of State. All the expenditure involved would be borne by the Waqf Board itself, said an official spokesman.
Independent MlA and Haryana Waqf board chairman Raheesh Khan, is known for his BJP inclination.
Raheesh Khan has been in the news over the Waqf Board’s recent letter to the Gurugam Deputy Commissioner.
A day after Chief Minister Manohar lal had advised Muslims not to use public spaces for offering namaz, Haryana Waqf Board had on Monday in a letter written to the Gurugram Deputy Commissioner asked the administration to remove encroachments from 19 mosques and lands.
"Gurugram is short of mosques. This has compelled the devotees to occupy public spaces including parks to offer Friday prayers. The properties including mosques and the land owned by the board are either disputed or have been encroached upon by the people," Waqf Board letter stated.
Acting on the letter, an inspection was got conducted by Gurugram Administration. The deputy commissioner and HUDA administrator, Chandra Shekhar Khare on Tuesday said that out of 19 mosques, 80 percent were not encroached upon.
The report has been sent to the Waqf Board, which can take action to remove the encroachments at few places found during the inspection. If required, the district administration will assist in the encroachment drive, he said.
He added that during the inspection, garbage was also found at some places which can be got removed by the Waqf Board.
Notably, the Chief Minister, who is currently on a foreign visit, on Sunday had indirectly supported the right-wing groups, who had disrupted prayers being offered at open spaces in Gurugram.
Over the issue, he had said “In our point of view, namaz should be offered at their designated places. Namaz should be offered at mosque and Eidgah. If there is shortage of place for namaz, then it should be offered at personal place.”
Manohar lal had later also clarified that 'he was not against offering prayers at open spaces till it created inconvenience to the people of other communities.
Over the past two weeks, various right-wing groups had disrupted Friday ‘Namaz’ at 10 places in Gurugram including Atul Kataria Chowk, Sikanderpur, Cyber Park Sector 40, Wazirabad and Mehrauli-Gurgaon road and IFFCO Chowk.