Minister clears decks for minority office complex in Mangaluru

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Mangaluru, Oct 12, 2015: Minister for minority welfare, Qamar-ul-Islam, has directed deputy commissioner A B Ibrahim to start the work on district minority welfare office complex at Pandeshwar without any further delay. The project for which district in-charge minister B Ramanath Rai laid the foundation stone on December 13, had run in to rough weather with locals and students of a nearby school protesting against it because they said this was the only ground in the region.

 

Qamar-ul-Islam, who visited the post-metric hostel in Chilimbi and interacted with students there, told reporters that there is no point dragging the issue of constructing the office complex any further. The High Court has disposed an appeal filed against the move to construct the complex in Pandeshwar and referred it to Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) for disposal. "In wake of KAT not giving any direction, the administration should proceed," he said.

The office complex will consist of the office of directorate of minority welfare, district office of department of minority welfare, Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation Ltd office, district Wakf office as well as a full-fledged information centre. The department has already set aside Rs 1 crore for the project, the minister said, adding the task of constructing the office complex will be vested with the Nirmithi Kendra of which the DC is the chairperson.

Akram Pasha, director, directorate of minorities said that the idea of having a minority welfare offices complex is to ensure that all offices that deal with minorities are present under a single roof. This will make the task of minorities who visit the office complex a lot easier and they will get assistance at a single location rather than have to run around. "It is the revenue land that has been set aside for the project and the minister has inspected the spot," Akram Pasha noted.

Courtesy: Times of India