All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday took a jibe at the Uttar Pradesh government over a new police outpost built outside the Jama Masjid in Sambhal, stating that they had money for nothing more than liquor bars and police posts.

In a post on social media platform X, the MP said, “A police post is being built in front of Jama Masjid in Sambhal. Go to any corner of the country, the government there neither opens schools nor hospitals. The government does not have money for anything else, it only has money for police posts and liquor bars.”

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He also alleged in the post that the least number of facilities were made available in Muslim-populated areas of the state.

After violence erupted in Sambhal over the survey of a mosque to investigate the existence of a temple in the area, construction for a new police outpost began near the Jama Masjid. A Rapid Action Force (RAF) team will be deployed in the area to enhance security and prevent further unrest, reported news agency ANI.

Also Read: ASI team surveys stepwell, Firozshah fort in U.P.’s Sambhal

Sambhal ASP Shrish Chandra told ANI that new police posts were being constructed in several areas in Sambhal “to enhance security, facilitate justice, and ensure better surveillance and response to crimes.”

Also Read: Sambhal violence: 47 held, 91 suspects still at large, says UP police

District magistrate Dr Rajender Pensiya also said that smart meters and CCTV cameras would be installed for safety purposes as well.

He added, “Anti-encroachment drives are being carried out regularly with temporary encroachments being removed and permanent ones addressed through notices and cooperation from residents.”

Sambhal wells to be re-opened

After a team of four from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) discovered wells near the Jama Masjid as well as other places with Hindu iconography, the district administration is also planning to re-open these places.

“19 wells and 68 sacred places, a total of 87, are known as Dev Tirtha. Many of the wells are being reopened as natural resources of water conservation by removing encroachment,” said DM Pensiya.

A Shiv-Hanuman temple, which was found in the region earlier, was also re-opened after 46 years.