Durga didn’t demolish wall, helped reclaim land: Waqf panel

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Durga-didnt-demolish-wall-helped-reclaim-land-Waqf-panel/articleshow/21634755.cms

DANKAUR (Greater Noida): The Akhilesh government may be hell-bent on "punishing" Durga Shakti Nagpal for "demolishing" the wall of an under-construction mosque at Kadalpur village but that lie is being repeatedly nailed. A committee affiliated to UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, which visited the village after the incident, has stated that the IAS officer had no role in bringing down the wall and had just advised villagers to follow due procedure.

Praising Durga, the committee said that she had in fact initiated the process of reclaiming waqf board land, including a graveyard, that had been encroached upon. This made the sand mining and land mafias join hands to fix her.

The secretary of Hazrat Syed Bhureshah Committee (Regn no. 321), which comes under the umbrella body of UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, Kadir Khan Jayswal, told TOI on Monday that they had visited the village in Dankaur area and spoken to many locals and elders. "Some of the villagers are associated with the committee. We have found that Durga Nagpal had come just to review the situation," he said, asserting that she had nothing to do with the demolition. The committee has sent a report to the UP government and asked it to reinstate the officer soon.

"There was no communal tension and till this point of time there is no communal tension in the area," insisted Jayaswal. "We are confident that in future too peace will prevail in Kadalpur. However, some political parties for the sake of Muslim votes are trying to provoke the people."

He alleged that the sand and land mafias were behind Durga's suspension as she had cracked down on them. "The mafias, in association with some local leaders, have been trying to fuel anti-Durga sentiment and complaints were made to senior Samajwadi Party leaders. An SMS campaign was also launched," he said.

Another committee member, Abdul Kalaam, said, "Durga was following the order of her seniors. She had no role in demolishing the wall. Some locals demolished the wall. Durga had just requested them to follow the directions of Supreme Court. The locals were asked to follow proper procedure in constructing the mosque."

Kalaam said they knew Nagpal personally and within a short span of time she had become a role model for honest officers and a big threat to the sand and land mafias. "She is a brave woman. The male officers have failed to take on the mafias in the area and she is the only one who dared to do that," he said.

The committee said Durga had cracked down heavily on the mafia that had encroached on at least 70 bighas of waqf board land in the district which would be worth crores of rupees. Land in several other villages, with proximity to Buddha International Circuit, was also encroached upon, pointed out a villager, Majid Khan. These land sharks were on Durga's radar.

The committee said complaints made by them and the locals to the district administration and the police had no effect. "We had taken up the issue with chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, cabinet minister Azam Khan, DIG (Meerut) and SSP, Gautam Budh Nagar, in July last year but no concrete action was taken. When we mounted pressure, in the name of action only an FIR was lodged on July 17, 2012, at Dankaur police station," recalled Jayswal.

"When Durga took charge, we produced some skeletons before her. These had been unearthed by the land mafia (when they dug up the place). Durga then moved on the matter," said Jayswal. TOI has copies of the documents based on which Durga had initiated action. TOI visited the area on Monday and found that shops had indeed come up on graveyard land.

"A new committee of the waqf board was elected in 2008. It had initiated a probe to find out the status of the land in its jurisdiction. About 70 bighas out of 200 bighas had been encroached upon," said Jayswal. "The land sharks had dug up the graveyard and taken out the skeletons. Durga visited the site and cross-checked with the locals. She had issued notices to some people but they did not pay any heed," said Jayswal said. The latest notice went out on July 10, 2013 (TOI has a copy).

A villager, Ajaan Ali, pointed out that "apart from Dankaur, several bighas of waqf board land have been encroached upon in Parsaul, Rilkha and Kasna areas. There is a nexus of land mafias, police, politicians and administration behind the encroachments." He described Durga as "brave and intelligent" and recalled that she used to come without any security and didn't rely on her staff to know the truth. She had ordered construction of boundary walls around waqf land to prevent land-grabbing, he said.

TOI visited the Dankaur graveyard where the land was alleged to have been encroached upon. Adjacent to the graveyard, a market has been developed. About 50 shops have been constructed in the past five years. "Four of the shops have been allotted and the rest are being allotted. We have no idea whether the market has been developed on a graveyard site or not," said Manoj Kumar, son of a shopkeeper.