Madrassas that receive foreign funding in Uttar Pradesh have now come on the government’s radar.
It is reported that the government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered an investigation to investigate them. The further process will be taken up by the Special Investigation Team or SIT constituted by the government.
It is being said that out of these, there are about 80 madrassas which have received funding of about Rs 100 crore from abroad.
What’s in the investigation?
Where are these madrassas getting funding from? Also, for what purpose is this money being spent? Are there any irregularities in these or not? It is reported that SIT has identified 80 such madrassas which have received funding of approximately Rs 100 crore in the last 2 years.
It is being said that SIT has already sought information about registered madrassas from the board.
Speaking to Times of India, Mohit Aggarwal, Additional DG, ATS, says, ‘We will see how the money received through foreign funding is being spent.
It remains to be seen whether the money is being used to run the madrassa or is being spent on some other activities. He said that no period has been fixed by the state government to complete the investigation.
The special thing is that recently ATS had arrested three people of a gang. It was being said that these people work to illegally enter Bangladeshi citizens and Rohingyas.
Investigation had revealed that to help them, a funding of Rs 20 crore was provided in 3 years through a Delhi based NGO.
Preparations were already done
Yogi government had given instructions to the district magistrates to conduct the survey last year itself. Then, in a survey that lasted for two months, it was found that there are about 8 thousand 449 such madrassas, which are not recognized by the State Madrassa Education Board and are working.
Also, information was received that more than 1000 madrassas are running in Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Shravasti, Siddharthnagar and near Nepal border.
The report quoted sources as saying that the number of madrassas in these areas has increased rapidly in the last few years. It was also revealed that these madrassas are getting funding from abroad.
After this SIT was formed. The investigation of the Minority Department also revealed that many madrassas were receiving foreign funding.