Centre Rolls Out Portal To Geo-Tag Waqf Properties
UMEED, short for Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development, allows real-time uploading, verification and monitoring of records: Reports
NEW DELHI: The Union government on Friday rolled out the UMEED portal — a centralised digital platform that makes geo-tagging of every Waqf property mandatory — to create the country’s first comprehensive online inventory of community-owned assets.
UMEED, short for Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development, allows real-time uploading, verification and monitoring of records. Key features include GIS mapping, transparent leasing and usage tracking, and an online grievance-redress system open to the public.
Launching the portal on the eve of Id ul Adha, Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju called it “a historic step” that would ensure Waqf assets benefit the poor Muslims for whom they were endowed. Minister of state George Kurian said the platform would “curb misuse and bring Waqf administration closer to the people,” while ministry secretary Chandra Shekhar Kumar predicted the tool would become the “backbone of digital Waqf governance,” boosting education, healthcare and livelihoods.
The initiative, however, faces resistance. Earlier this week the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) urged the Centre to defer the launch, citing petitions pending in the Supreme Court that challenge amendments to the Waqf Act. AIMPLB president Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani argued that forcing mandatory registration through the portal before the court’s verdict “constitutes contempt.”
Despite the objections, the portal went live on Friday, with the government maintaining that greater transparency and accountability in Waqf management are long overdue.
