After a prolonged hold-off, the Telangana State Wakf Board (TSWB) has released two months of honorarium out of pending six months arrears to be distributed among Imams and Moazans in the state. The honorarium is being released through the grant provisionally sanctioned by the state government just ahead of the proposed elections.
Since several years, the demand has been made to release salaries to Imams and Moazans through the exchequer on par with government employees as was done in the case of Pandits and Pujaries of the endowment department.
While releasing the order on Wednesday, the Chairmen Telangana State Wakf Board (TSWB) Muhammed Masihullah Khan announced that the honorarium of two months has been released and another two months of arrears will be released by the end of Ramzan season.
Opposition parties often target the Telangana government over the way the Imams and Moazans in the state are being deprived of their rights claiming that other states are provisionally releasing salaries in compliance with certain court orders.
To simmer down the dissent among the Imams and Moazans over an inordinate delay in releasing the arrears, the so-called honorarium of two months has been released on Wednesday with an assurance that another two months of dole will be released by the end of Ramzan season.
While elaborating the details of the fund being released, the Chairmen said, “The Honorarium of the months of November and December 2022 has been released that corresponds to a total amount of Rs.9,99,70,000 being distributed among the Imams and Moazans in the state.
It is said that there are around 9997 registered Imams and Moazans in the state who receive Rs.5,000 each as honorarium by the Board. Upon releasing an order from Wakf Board, the arrears of honorarium will be credited directly into their accounts.
The Chairman further said that Wakf Board was able to distribute honorarium among the imams and Moazans after the grant was provisionally released by the state government. He urged the Finance Department to release the honorarium amount in lump-sum to the Wakf Board so as to avoid pile-up of arrears.
