Waqf Board claims ownership of Bidar Fort, 2 villages; ASI in the dark

BIDAR: Waqf Board has claimed ownership of the historic Bidar Fort – a protected monument under the care of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for over 70 years – and two villages in Bidar Taluk in a development for which ASI officers, deputy of the district, needed his commissioner and local elected representatives through both shock and surprise.
Interestingly, the fort built in 1427 by the Bahamian Sultanate was classified as a Waqf Board property in 2005. ASI is even now in charge of the maintenance of the monument.
Once described as Asia’s largest fort, it was declared a protected monument in the Gazette of India on November 29, 1951. However, in a notification dated August 17, 2005, the fort area was claimed as waqf property.
The claimed areas include Solah Kambh or a 16-pillar monument, 14 of the 15 domes at Ashtur and several tombs, including that of Amir Barid in Barid Shahi Park.
Although the CM has issued successive clarifications and an order over the past two weeks to annul any takeover announcements, farmers and citizens are still an exhausted lot.
Anirudh Desai, assistant surveyor in the archeology department, claimed that he has no knowledge of the government notification classifying ‘this protected site’ as wakf property since 2005. “The relevant department documents are at the headquarters in Hampi,” he said, adding the Hampi office could shed more light on the matter.
Deputy Commissioner Shilpa Sharma also claimed that she was not aware of the Bidar Fort being designated as a Waqf Board property and said she will seek information from the department concerned.
Similarly, Dharmapur and Chatnalli villages in Bidar Taluk are claimed by Waqf Board. Sources said that a total of 26 hectares under Survey No. 87 of Dharmapur village is marked. The Waqf property, which was absent from the land records until 2001, was included after 2013. Nearly 19 hectares of land belonging to farmer Krishnamurthy in Udabal village in Chittaguppa taluk has been allotted to Waqf Board. About thirty years ago, Krishnamurthy had agreed in a gesture to the burial of a Muslim man in a corner of his farmland.
In 2013, Waqf Board officially recognized 960 hectares of land in Chatnalli village. Concerned about this, farmers of the village, led by MLA Beldale, recently met the CM, seeking a solution.