Hubballi: Jagdambika Pal, the Chairman of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha, today visited the State amid the ongoing Karnataka State Waqf Board row, issuing notices to farmers  claiming ownership of agricultural lands.

Pal, who arrived in Hubballi in the morning, will also be visiting Vijayapura and Belagavi as  part of his fact-finding tour, following which he will be submitting a report to the Parliament.

The JPC Chairman will be meeting the farmers and members of various organisations to discuss about the controversy. The JPC has been formed to review Waqf Amendment Bill introduced in Parliament this year.

Speaking to media persons, Pal said, members of the farmers organisations had met him at Hubballi Airport and had handed over some papers to him. “I have also enquired with farmers if they had Bonafide documents or deeds of lands, now claimed by the Waqf Board, to prove their ownership. The farmers are claiming that they have been cultivating lands for more than 50-70 years, but even then, the Board is claiming (their land). I will look into it,” Pal said.

Jagdambika Pal’s visit comes after Bangalore South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya wrote a letter to JPC, to inform about the ongoing Waqf row in the State and also regarding the unilateral manner of the Board claiming ownership of lands, including monuments belonging to Archaeological Survey of India.