Jubilee Hills Graveyard Issue Back to Square One

Hyderabad: The long-pending graveyard issue for Jubilee Hills constituency and nearby localities is back to square one, thanks to a Telangana High Court status quo order last week. The court order came days after government allocated one acre to the Muslim community at Borabanda for the graveyard.

The government had expedited the process of identifying and handing over land for the graveyard during the Jubilee Hills bypoll. By late December, as Muslims felt at ease as the government decided to alienate land for the purpose. The Hyderabad district collector allotted 1 acre near Peeli Dargah in Survey No. 127 / 1 in Yousufguda in Khairatabad mandal for the purpose.

The proceedings for allotment of land were issued on December 30, following a high-level meeting on December 29 which was attended by revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and minorities welfare minister Mohd Azharuddin. Permission was accorded for handing over of ‘advance possession’ following State Waqf Board’s proposal to the collector.

The land allocation has triggered protests by some locals backed by the BJP. They took out a rally following the proceedings and some of them approached the High Court with a writ petition based on which the court on January 7 issued the status quo order and sought demarcation and survey details. “In the absence of such demarcation, granting advance possession of the land to the respondent would not be appropriate,” it observed.

“The Borabanda locality does not have a graveyard. This land near Peeli Dargah had been under consideration even before formation of Telangana. We had hoped that at least now the issue has been resolved to some extent. But then the court have the orders,” said Syed Mukram, president of Borabanda Muslim Welfare and Graveyard Committee. “We shall fight it out.”

The other two sites which were proposed earlier for Jubilee Hills constituency and nearby neighborhoods also remain in limbo. In the case of Erragadda, the existing 7,111-sq yd old graveyard notified in 1982 has been allocated for burials. Residents of nearby areas protested with the active involvement of BJP at the time of Jubilee Hills bypoll.

In the case of Shaikpet, the graveyard area of about 2,500 square yards is being claimed by the Army. Locals recalled that it was Gazette-notified Waqf property.