Mamata announces Rs.1,000 for muezzins

Kolkata, May 2 (IANS) Continuing to rain sops on the minorities, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday announced Rs.1,000 monthly honorarium for muezzins of mosques.

She also included 33 more classes from among the minorities in the 17 percent quota earmarked for Other Backward Classes.

"The muezzins who lead the call to prayers and help out in other socio-economic activities like administering polio drops are very poor," she told reporters. "So the cabinet has given the go-ahead for a Rs.1,000 honorarium per month through the Waqf Board."

She said the cabinet also cleared a proposal for reservation of jobs for Muslims under the Other Backward Classes category.

"The previous (Left Front) government passed a bill hurriedly before last year's assembly polls without undertaking any survey... We have now finalised things after conducting a sample survey," she said.

Banerjee said earlier 65 classes of minorities were included in the OBC list. "Today we have decided to add 33 more."

Last month, the chief minister announced a monthly honorarium of Rs.2,500 to Imams to be paid through the Waqf Board.