The State Wakf Board (SWB) discovered that over the years a large chunk of its lands has been encroached upon in Hyderabad and Kurnool cities. The board issued notices to about 2000 persons who have reportedly encroached upon 423 acre of prime wakf land near Ramoji Film City on Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway.

This is the second such big bunch of notices that has been slapped by the SWB in the last fortnight. On October 18, the board issued notices to 2,262 persons whom it claimed had encroached upon its properties. Most of these properties are located in Hyderabad and Kurnool. Minority welfare minister Ahmedullah Syed told mediapersons on Tuesday that he along with chairman of the Wakf Board, Syed Shah Ghulam Afzal Biabani, surveyed the land that had been endowed to Almas mosque in Devalamma Nagaram village in Choutuppal mandal. "Our enquiries revealed that some real estate players had plotted big chunks of land and sold it to gullible persons. On the basis of investigation we have decided to issue notices to all the encroachers," he said.

Chairman Biabani said the board had written to the tahsildar of Choutuppal mandal asking him to take action in the matter. The land has been with the mosque since it was built during the Qutub Shahi times, he said. The endowment was subsequently confirmed by Asaf Jahi rulers. He said as the matter is still being investigated it is difficult to pinpoint the names of the persons, including politicians, who were behind such large-scale encroachment.

However, neither the minister nor the chairman could say why the SWB remained silent when the land was being encroached upon. Sources in the board said that some officials in the board colluded with the encroachers and kept the matter under wraps for a long time. An official of the board said that the land, worth nearly Rs 1000 crore, was lying vacant and unprotected for a long time and it fell victim to the real estate boom. The land value in that village and its surroundings is between Rs 2 crore to Rs 4 crore per acre. "There are several such wakf properties that are unprotected. Sometimes their records are also not found with the board," he explained.