Waqf registrations rise by 35,000 in West Bengal after UMEED portal launch

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Waqf authorities say the increase is largely due to increased registrations and not a sudden increase in the number of existing properties

Published - August 01, 2026 03:10 am IST - Kolkata

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju speaks in Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: ANI

The Union Minority Affairs Ministry has informed Parliament that 1,15,551 Waqf properties in West Bengal have been validated and approved on the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development (UMEED) portal as of July 15, 2026, up from 80,548 properties reported in February 2025. A rise of around 35,000 registrations in a year.

“As on date 15.07.2026, a total of 1,33,417 waqf properties were initiated by the Board of Auqaf, West Bengal for uploading on the UMEED Central Portal–2025. Out of these, 1,15,551 waqf properties have been validated and approved by the approver, while 12,720 properties have been rejected during verification. Thus, the Board of Auqaf, West Bengal has complied with the extended statutory deadline,” an answer by the Minister of Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, said to a question raised by Bharatiya West Bengal State President Samik Bhattacharya.

The State Waqf Board already had 80,548 properties registered under them.

Former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee opposed the Waqf Amendment Bill and said that she would protect the Waqf properties in the State. She issued an advertisement in the papers in January 2026 stating that the State Waqf Board had filed a Writ petition against the issue at the Supreme Court.

However, the Ms Banerjee government also told people that they must register their properties on UMEED. “Therefore, there is no truth in such propaganda that registration of property details in the new portal [UMEED portal] will result in transfer or alienation of Waqf properties,” the newspaper advertisement later said after many criticised Ms Banerjee for opposing the bill yet asking people to register.

In June 2025, the Central government launched the UMEED portal to start central registration of properties after the Waqf Amendment Bill was passed in the Parliament and became an Act.

Also Read |​Communal cauldron: On a communal divide in West Bengal

“The number of registrations in the past year may be more because the UMEED portal started in 2025. But these properties have remained unregistered in the past 15 years since the board did their last survey. So, the numbers have increased in the past 15 years; the registration has happened in the past year,” a source in the State Waqf Board told The Hindu.

The issue of Waqf has long been a matter of much heated political debate in West Bengal since the Bill was introduced in 2024. The State Assembly had passed a resolution in December 2024 opposing the Bill. The bill triggered many protests in the State, including an incident of communal violence in Murshidabad, killing at least three.

Published - August 01, 2026 03:10 am IST

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