Govt drops the proposal to develop knowledge city

Hyderabad, Nov 3 (UNI) The Andhra Pradesh government today dropped the proposal to develop the knowledge city project at Aloor village, Chevella mandal in Rangareddy district after taking opinion of the religious scholars.

This decision was taken at a meeting of Mr Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Minister for Energy, Coal and Minorities Welfare, held with scholars and officials of APIIC and minorities welfare department today.

The Muslim scholars while appreciating the proposals, opined that the Wakf properties could never be transferred and the project could be taken up on partnership basis while the land remained in the name of wakf board itself.

The Minister asked the Wakf board officials to examine the matter minutely in consultation with Muslim scholars and muftis. He further said that as the opinion of the religious elders was against selling away the land, the proposal to go ahead with land acquision process was dropped.

November 4 was the last date to deposit of Rs 50.00 crore for issuing draft declaration and paying compensation to encroachers and Wakf board but the process now ceased to start, a release said.

Earlier, Mr B P Acharya VC and MD of APIIC explained the salient features of the project before the scholars. If materialized the project would have fetched total revenue of Rs 773 crore to be shared between AP state Wakf board and the APIIC at the ratio of 75:25.

The minister informed the meeting that government had planned to develop the Wakf land as a role model for Wakf properties in the country.

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