Officials visit Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow as part of madrasa survey

New Delhi, Sep 15: A team of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education and the district administraion on Thursday conducted a survey at the Muslim seminary Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow.

The move comes days after the state government ordered a survey of the unrecognised madrasas. The district minority officer Sone Kumar who was part of the team said that the survey was aimed at a collecting information about the seminary, its affiliation among other things. He added that the affiliation was unknown to them.

Kumar said that they collected information as per a 12-point prorforma which seeks information on the names and details of the organisations running a seminary, the year of establishment, number of students, courses being offered, the source of funding and facilities such as electricity and water.

For the first time on Saturday the survey of the Muslim seminaries began in Uttar Pradesh. The Opposition parties have criticised the move with former chief minister Mayawati accused the ruling BJP of terrorising the Muslims with an evil intent.

The survey has also been opposed b the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Jamie Ulema-e-Hind.

The government maintained that the survey was being conducted to check if the basic facilities were being provided to those studying in the seminaries.