Only 69 ‘makers of waqf’ have submitted details of property on central Umeed website: Govt | India News

NEW DELHI: It has been two months since the launch of the central portal mandating that details of all registered waqf properties are uploaded within six months as stipulated by law, but data shared by the govt in Parliament on Wednesday showed that only 69 “makers of waqf” have submitted details of property on the website while 663 have initiated the process.While four properties have been rejected, including three in Andhra Pradesh and one Odisha, none have been approved and made part of the database, as per the data shared in Lok Sabha by the minority affairs ministry in response to a question.In his reply, minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju listed out the measures being taken by way of meetings, training programmes and visits by officials to inform, address concerns and equip state waqf boards to enable the ‘muttawalis (caretakers)’ of waqf to upload the details. A dedicated helpline has also been set up to address grievances raised by boards.Going by the information shared by the ministry at the time of portal’s launch on June 6, it is estimated that there are over 9 lakh waqf properties in India. It was shared then that the central waqf portal will follow a three-tier verification system comprising the ‘maker-checker-approver’. After a mutawalli enters property details as the ‘maker’, it will be followed by validation by waqf board officials and approval by the designated govt authority after verification of records to enable its entry into the ‘Umeed’ portal.The 663 ‘makers’, who have initiated the process of uploading details, include 193 are from Odisha, 102 from Uttarakhand and 69 from Andhra Pradesh. No makers have initiated the process in Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim, Goa, Ladakh and Lakshadweep.Of those who have submitted details — 27 are from Himachal Pradesh. 11 from Odisha, five from Manipur, four from Andhra Pradesh, three each from Rajasthan and Punjab, two from Uttarakhand and one each from UP, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi.“About 140 grievances/suggestions have been received from across the country as on July 28 and their resolutions have also been uploaded on the portal to help other boards to understand and handle the portal’s functioning effectively,” Rijiju said.The ministry has also advised establishment of Project Management Units (PMUs) at the Central, state/UT, Waqf board, and district levels to ensure that the details of all properties are uploaded on the Portal.