Mild tension prevailed at Amberpet on Thursday and Friday as a mosque known as Masjid-e-Ek Khana was demolished by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for road widening on Wednesday night.
The Telangana State Waqf Board has criticised the GHMC for keeping the former in the dark over the demolition.
Senior officials of the TSWB said that they came to know of the situation only a day later, after Muslim groups and members of political parties arrived at the site of demolition and staged a dharna.
According to in-charge TSWB Chief Executive Officer Shahnawaz Qasim, a letter was sent to the GHMC as early as July 2018, asserting that the land parcel it was situated on was waqf.
“In the letter, I stated that the masjid and its properties are waqf. There is a gazette notification available to this effect. Now, the masjid has been demolished without even informing us. Further, we are told that compensation has been given to private individuals, while, as per law, it is the TSWB which should be given the compensation,” Mr Qasim said.
Approached for his version, Town Planning director K Srinivas Rao said the mosque was at a different address, which had been acquired by Roads and Buildings department way back in 1984 for road widening.
The property in question was a patta land, with the owner paying property tax since 1955, he said.
“After verification of records, we have paid him a compensation of ₹2.2 crore, before taking up demolition,” Mr.Rao said.
