PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun In a novel initiative, the Uttarakhand Waqf Board has decided to provide free residential units to the Muslim women affected by the now -banned practices of Teen Talaq and Halala in the State. A proposal in this regard will be brought in the Waqf Board meeting scheduled in the first week of October. The draft of the proposal is learnt to have been prepared. The chairman of the Uttarakhand Waqf Board, Shadab Shams told The Pioneer that he has discussed the proposal with the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and he has given his consent on the subject. He said that there are hundreds of the Teen Talaq and Halala victims in the State. He said that the decision by the Board to provide free houses to the Muslim women affected by the social evils is in accordance with the spirit of the Waqf Amendment Act 2025 and Uniform Civil Code enacted by the Pushkar Singh Dhami government of Uttarakhand. Shams said that the Waqf Board owns a huge land bank in the State and the houses for the Muslim women will be constructed on the Waqf land. He informed that the Waqf Board currently has about 1000 Bighas of land in Uttarakhand out of which about 500 bighas in Haridwar district. Shams said that the Muslim women who are victims of Teen Talaq and Halala are often in miserable condition. “Such women and their children have the first right on the Waqf property. One of the objectives of the Waqf is to provide social security to such women and the decision to provide free houses to Teen Talaq and Halala victims will go a long way in empowering them,’’ he said.