NEW DELHI: The employees of Delhi Waqf Board on Monday launched a protest against the board members over not being paid salary for three straight months. Earlier on January 12, several employees had held a protest in front of the city government’s secretariat.
According to the employees, they have been protesting for the past more than 15 days, however, none has paid any heed to their demands.
“It’s more than 15 days since our protest and we have been left devoid of any answer. We have also handed over a memo of our demands to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Revenue minister Kailash Gehlot,” said a protestor, adding still they haven’t received any response on the matter from any of the board members or the CEO.
Three days back on Friday, Aam Aadmi Party MLA and Waqf Board’s president Amantullah Khan met the employees and asked them to end the protest; however, the latter refused to budge until and unless their demands were met.
Notably, Delhi Waqf Board looks after 827 mosques, about 480 graveyards, over 300dargahs, and 358 other properties including Baolis, residential units, schools, and shops. Meanwhile, one of the board members Raziya Sultan extended her support to theprotesting employees. She said the issue can only be solved when the CEO callsfor a meeting for all the board members.
But the CEO hasn’t called for a meeting yet regarding the issues faced by the employees. Board members like Adv. Himaal Akhtar, Naim Fatima, Choudhary Sharif, Parvez Hashmi, and Azimul Haq need to come forward as per their positions and fulfill their responsibilities” Sultan said.
Another board member Himal Akhtar, while speaking to this newspaper, said it is the responsibility of the CEO and the chairperson to conduct the meeting and solve this problem.
“We are just ordinary members of the board. We cannot do anything about it and it’s not in our hands to solve this issue” he said. Most of the protesting employees mentioned that they live in rented accommodations and their owners are continuously pressuring them to vacate it since they are not able to pay their rent.
The employees apart, the Imam and the caretaker of the mosque also haven’t received their salaries for the last eight months. Meanwhile, Delhi Waqf Board CEO Mohammed Rehan Raza did not respond
to calls and messages for his comment.