The government will launch a drive across the country to recover the occupied Waqf properties, said Religious Affairs adviser AFM Khalid Hossain.
The drive will begin in Chattogram and then expand to Jashore, Brahmanbaria, Sylhet, Kishorganj and Sunamganj and other places, he said in an interview on Wednesday.
Police, Rab and the local administration will participate in the drive, he said.
The government has already recovered 52 bighas of occupied land in Naogaon, he added.
"Waqf properties are a sacred deposit of the devout Muslims to the government," the adviser said, adding that the government will protect those properties at any cost.
According to a report of the Standing Committee on the Ministry of Religious Affairs, about 85,572 acres of Waqf properties are illegally occupied.
Currently, there are nearly 22,000 registered Waqf estates across the country, having 4,24,074 acres of land under the estates.
The mosques and madrasas under the Waqf estate are controlled by the descendants of the donors and social committees, despite the donors verbally declaring their properties Waqf.
To utilise the Waqf estate for people's welfare, the first Bengal Waqf Act was passed in 1934 during the British era. The act was later amended in 1962 and then in 2013.
There are many Waqf properties of different mosques and madrasas in the country, and many people are illegally occupying those properties, said the religious affairs adviser.
A digitalised process will be introduced for Waqf properties along with the reorganisation of the Waqf administration so that nobody can occupy the Waqf properties, he said.
The deeds of many Waqf properties were destroyed or kept hidden by the beneficiaries, which is difficult to trace out, he noted.
But we are hopeful about bringing a large number of mosques and madrasas under Waqf property regulations.
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