Hyderabad, Oct 7 (IANS) In another controversy over allotment of land by the Telangana government for a graveyard in Hyderabad, residents of some apartment buildings in Erragadda on Tuesday staged a protest opposing the burial ground in the area.

BJP MP M. Raghunandan Rao and party workers joined the residents in the protest.

This came a day after the Army stopped construction of a graveyard in the Shaikpet area, claiming ownership of the land allotted by the government.

In the latest incident, the BJP MP told police officials that the land allotted for the graveyard is private property and that there are court orders to this effect.

Residents of various apartment buildings came out on the road to stage the protest. The protestors, including women, raised slogans of ‘we want justice’ and were carrying placards.

A land measuring 2,500 square yards has been allocated by the government for the Muslim graveyard.

Police stopped the protestors led by the MP from entering the land allocated for the graveyard.

The BJP MP accused the Congress government of doing ‘appeasement’ and ‘vote bank’ politics. He said that the land was allocated for the graveyard to get Muslim votes in the upcoming by-elections in the Jubilee Hills constituency.

Raghunandan Rao demanded that the government withdraw the order allotting the land for the graveyard. He warned that if the order was not withdrawn, the protest would be intensified.

The MP made it clear that the graveyard would not be allowed in the residential area. He said that, if necessary, they would take the law into their hands to stop the construction of the graveyard.

This is the second incident in which the land allotment for a graveyard by the government has faced opposition.

Controversy hit a piece of land allotted for a burial ground at Shaikpet. The work to begin construction of the graveyard was stopped on Monday by Army officials, who claimed ownership of the land.

Through a Government Order, 2,500 square yards of land near Ghairabad Masjid was allotted for a graveyard.

Muslims in Jubilee Hills constituency, particularly those in Borabanda, Yousufguda, Erragadda, and Shaikpet, have long been demanding lands for graveyards.

Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society (TMREIS) chairman Faheem Qureshi, AIMIM Karwan MLA Kauser Mohiuddin and other leaders had visited the site on Monday. Subsequently, a team of Army officials arrived there and ordered the community to stop the work. They made it clear that no work should be taken up till the ownership dispute was resolved.

The incident left the government embarrassed, with Muslim leaders accusing it of allotting the lands in a hurry without proper groundwork.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K. T. Rama Rao accused the Congress government of betraying Muslims.

He said that the BRS government had allocated 125 acres each for Muslim and Christian cemeteries in 2022, issuing an official Government Order. He ridiculed the Congress for now claiming credit for merely offering 2,500 square yards of disputed land, where even the Army had intervened, claiming ownership.

–IANS

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