Haj pilgrims' quota controversy hots up

Haj pilgrims' quota controversy hots up
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, JAN 19: As the annual Haj pilgrimage is set to begin, the quota issue is snowballing into a controversy between the Central Haj Committee and the Delhi Haj Committee which is on a dharna demanding an increase in the quota of pilgrims from the Capital.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Central Haj Committee chairman Tanvir Ahmed accused the Delhi Haj Committee of politicising the Haj issue stating that it had taken money from a number of pilgrims. ``Only the Central Haj Committee has the right to take money,'' he said.

The Delhi committee's intent is to embarass the Government and try to extract political mileage out of this religious issue, he said.

Delhi Haj Committee chairman Anees Durani is sitting on a dharna alongwith the applicants demanding that the centre should allow them to perform the Haj, one of the fundamentals of Islam. Ahmed said this year, 74,000 applications had been received by the Central Haj Committee over its quota of 66,000.

``Maharashtra, Gujarat andDelhi received much more applications than their quota. Hence qurrah (lottery) was used as the only parameter to select the pilgrims from these states,'' he said. Delhi is demanding acceptance of about 2,000 more applications. While Gujarat and Maharashtra committees held a lottery for the waitlisted pilgrims, Delhi did not do so, he said.

The agitation by the Delhi committee, he said, is not in the interest of the pilgrims and seems to be ``politically motivated''. He said the Capital, being one of the main embarkation points, sees about 25,000 from about 15 lakh people who come here for the purpose, taking off for the pilgrimage. ``Instead of making arrangements for them, the members of Delhi committee are indulging in agitation for which this is not the right time,'' Ahmed said.

Unlike in some states where for the first time district-level training programmes are being conducted to educate the pilgrims, especially those from the rural areas, on how to go about the pilgrimage, Ahmed said that nothingof the sort was being performed in the Capital. ``There is hardly any time left with the first flight with the Haj pilgrims set to leave on February 7.''