JPC Chairman receives over 500 petitions from aggrieved farmers in Karnataka

WAQF PROPERTIES ROW - Over 500 petitions were received by the Chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Jagdambika Pal, on Thursday from farmers in Karnataka's northern districts, who alleged that their lands were marked as Waqf properties, according to Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya's office.

Pal, along with Surya, also a JCP member, visited Hubballi, Vijayapura, and Belagavi, during which he met farmers and members of various organizations who complained that their lands were being claimed by the State Waqf Board.

"Jagdambika Pal along with Surya received over 500 petitions from farmers from Vijayapura, Bidar, Kalaburagi, Hubballi, Bagalkote, and Belgavi on their agricultural land being claimed by the Waqf Board as Waqf property," Surya's office said in a statement.

Noting that he had come to the state on a "fact-finding" mission and to meet those aggrieved, Pal said, farmers and various organizations have handed over to him documents and memorandums.

He said he assured them that their issues will be discussed in the JPC and incorporated in the report.