By IANS
Bhopal : A parliamentary team is set to probe encroachment of Waqf land, including Muslim burial grounds, in Madhya Pradesh.
Controversial allotment of plots by some members of the Waqf Board are also likely to come up before a parliamentary committee set to visit Bhopal for three days from Friday.
Headed by Laljan Basha, the team consists of about 40 Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha members.
The Waqf Board is a religious trust that oversees Sunni Muslim graveyards and mosques throughout India. According to Islamic rules, a waqf is an inalienable religious endowment denoting a building or land for religious or charitable purposes.
Waqf officials claim that powerful people have encroached upon large tracts of Muslim burial land and 1,700 other Waqf properties worth Rs.50 billion across the state.
Bhopal tops the list with 80 cases followed by Raisen (65 cases) and Sehore (40).
A total of 881 cases of encroachment were registered with the Waqf Board between 2000 and 2006 but only 100 were settled. Even in many settled cases the eviction process is yet to be completed.
Waqf Board officials allege that even the police headquarters in Bhopal has been built on Waqf land. Similarly, 54 government offices have been constructed on land belonging to the board.