E-Paper
Imams felicitate CM Khattar for hiking honorarium by 50%, annual 5% raise
Tanzeem Aima-e-Auqaf, an organisation of the imams, said the salary hike was unprecedented and at least 800 imams working with various mosques in Haryana will benefit by this decision
Imams associated Haryana Waqf Board on Thursday felicitated chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar after the state government increased their monthly honorarium by 50% and promised them a 5% increment every year.
Tanzeem Aima-e-Auqaf, an organisation of the imams, said the salary hike was unprecedented and at least 800 imams working with various mosques in Haryana will benefit by this decision. Imams are paid salaries by Haryana Waqf Board, which gets grants from the state government and also generates income from its own properties.
Zakir Hussain, administrator, Haryana Waqf Board, said that imams will be paid between ₹14,000 and ₹16,000 as honorarium per month. “The provision of 5% yearly hike in imams’ salary has never happened anywhere in India,” he said.
Addressing the media after meeting with 30 imams and office bearers of Haryana Waqf Board at Gurugram University, chief minister Khattar said, “Imams can play a crucial road in improving education and health facilities in areas such as Mewat. We are also working on creating more infrastructure and development in this region. The imams have also played an important role in the success of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign in Mewat as well as the Swachh Bharat campaign,” he said.
Khattar added the government is working to ensure that temple priests are also paid minimum wage by the organisations that employ them. “A board has been formed by the government to oversee this aspect and also for the welfare of this section,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Khattar inaugurated the animation and multimedia lab at Gurugram University and digitally laid the foundation stone of the teaching block of the University being constructed at a cost of ₹44 crore in Sector-87.
University vice chancellor professor Dinesh Kumar said that they developed a state-of-the-art computing lab to provide students with practical education in animation and multimedia.
