Waqf Board backs Durga's shakti, says Nagpal tried to reclaim land

Lucknow, August 6: After taking action against the officer who triggered the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, the Punjab government has now invited the suspended officer back to her original cadre.

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday invited Durga Shakti Nagpal to return to her original state cadre of Punjab. Her cadre was changed after she got married to a Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer.

Durga Shakti Nagpal has got the support of Uttar Pradesh Waqf Board and an intelligence report accessed by CNN-IBN, which has vindicated the IAS officer. The Waqf Board says Durga Shakti Nagpal was trying to reclaim Waqf land, which angered the sand mining mafia active in the area.

At the same time, the National Commission for Women has asked for a report from the Akhilesh Yadav government on the suspension of the officer for allegedly demolishing a mosque wall in a village in Gautam Budh Nagar district.

The Waqf Board has written a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav copies of which has also been sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Gautam Budh Nagar District Magistrate Kumar Ravikant Singh, the IAS officer did not order the demolition of the mosque wall as claimed by the state government.

A team of the committee connected to the Waqf Board visited Kadalpur, the village where the wall was demolished, after the incident and it has now said that Durga Shakti Nagpal had no role in bringing down the wall. The report of the committee in fact praises Durga for beginning the process of reclaiming Waqf Board land which was allegedly encroached upon by the sand mining and land mafia.

"I am going to submit memorandum to the Prime Minister through the District Magistrate to reinstate Durga. She was only doing her duty and become a victim not only of sand mafia but also land mafia which has occupied Waqf land in the area. The Samajwadi Party is trying to make it political by saying demolition would have let to communal riots but it is a Muslim majority village so there is no question of riots," said Kadir Khan, Secretary of the Hazrat Syed Bhureshah Committee, which is connected to the Waqf Board.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), too, targeted the Samajwadi Party government for the controversy. "Durga Shakti Nagpal is facing punishment without any fault of hers. All the reports, including those of the DM, Muslim & minority organisations, reflect only on the failure of the Samajwadi Party government," said BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain.

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