Uttarakhand: 190 Madrassas Found Running Without Registration

The verification drive was initiated by the minority department, Uttarakhand Police in collaboration with DMs. Nainital has 155 and Dehradun 35, with enrolments over thousands.

Uttarakhand: After Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's instruction to identify illegal madrassas in the state, the responsibility was assigned to the Minority Welfare Department and the local intelligence unit (LIU) of Uttarakhand Police in collaboration with DMs, which revealed 190 madrassas running illegally.

The operation unearthed 129 illegal madrassas in Udham Singh Nagar of Nainital with enrolments over thousands, Rajendra Kumar, director of the minority department, said. In Haldwani, about 26 madrassas were found to be operating illegally, he added.

These institutions are neither registered, nor the minority department has any information about them. Most of the students are from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring states.

"The district administration was ordered to investigate the matter. Now every District Magistrate will soon submit a report to the government on this," Kumar said.

So far, 35 illegal madrassas have been detected in Dehradun including 18 in Vikas Nagar, 10 in Dehradun City, six in Doiwala and one in Kalsi. They have a cumulative of 3,000 students.

"I would like to thank PM Modi, we had urged him to inaugurate the National Games. PM has agreed to inaugurate the National Games. We also informed him about the winter yatra and urged him to stay here for a day during this yatra. On order for verification of madrasas in the state, he says, "Be it illegal madrasas or illegal encroachment, this should not happen in Uttarakhand at any cost...We will remove encroachment and orders have been given for verification of madrasas. Minority Department will see to it. DM and SP will also run verification drive for the same," Dhami told news agency ANI.

Dehradun DM Savin Bansal said the capital city has 90 madrassas with over 9,000 students and information of how many of them are having registration is being collected. If found illegal, the madrassas will be shut down immediately. It is also being taken care of so that students don't lose on academic years.

"It is the responsibility of the District Magistrates to check which madrasas are registered or not. Our intelligence is also investigating the source of income of these illegal madrassas and their source of funding," Nilesh Anand Bharane, Inspector General of Police (Law and Order), said.