Hyderabad: The Telangana Government issued a Gazette notification to allot 10 acres of land worth over Rs. 20 crore for a Muslim burial ground in Kamareddy district. Advisor to the Telangana Government, Mohammed Ali Shabbir, led the efforts for the allotment.
Sources said the government included the graveyard land allotment in a broader initiative to provide adequate burial grounds for Muslims in every district of Telangana. Officials added that the government selected Kamareddy, the hometown district of Shabbir Ali, for the first phase of the initiative.
Shabbir Ali has remained associated with several minority welfare measures over the past three decades. In 1993, he created India’s first Minority Welfare Department in united Andhra Pradesh after becoming a minister at the age of 32.
The Andhra Pradesh Government also introduced a separate minority welfare budget during 1993-94 with an allocation of Rs. 2 crore. Officials said the combined minority welfare budgets of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for 2026-27 had now risen to nearly Rs. 7,000 crore.
Muslim graveyard land allotment seen as major welfare step
Officials said Shabbir Ali played a key role in introducing four per cent reservation for Muslims in education and employment under the BC-E category. The reservation reportedly benefited nearly 22 lakh economically weaker Muslims.
Officials added that the Genco Department issued the first appointment letter under the BC-E reservation category when Shabbir Ali served as Energy Minister during 2006-07.
Between 2004 and 2009, Shabbir Ali also contributed to the establishment of pre-metric and post-metric hostels. He also supported English-medium residential schools for minorities and Muslim mass marriage schemes. Later, these initiatives evolved into TMREIS institutions and the Shaadi Mubarak scheme.
Officials described the latest graveyard land allotment as another important step in expanding minority welfare infrastructure in Telangana.