NEW DELHI, 25 June — All-India Haj Conference for the year 2002 concluded at the Parliament House Annexe here yesterday. The conference was organized to discuss the problems faced by Haj pilgrims. It also discussed in length, ways and means to improve arrangements for the coming Haj.
Inaugurating the conference, Minister of State for External Affairs, U. V. Krishnam Raju, called on the Central Haj Committee (CHC) and the state committees to act in concert in order to help the pilgrims.
Raju said with the increase in the number of Haj pilgrims every year, the arrangements made by the CHC and the Indian Mission in Saudi Arabia had to keep pace with the times keeping in mind the needs of the pilgrims, who have been asking for improved facilities every year.
He said that in line with the Saudi regulations, the space entitlement of each pilgrim in Makkah will now increase from the 2.1/2 square meters to three square meters, an increase of 20 percent. “This will provide greater comfort to our pilgrims,” he added. Raju assured the delegates the government would entertain all suggestions to effect improvement in different areas of Haj management.
Addressing the conference, the Civil Aviation Minister, Sharad Yadav, said that this year’s Haj arrangements had been a grand success. The aviation minister later told Arab News, that “my ministry is fully aware of everything and is trying to make Haj travel more convenient.” The Minister of State for Coal and Mines, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, assured the CHC of full cooperation from the government. “I have discussed the matter of alleged mismanagement during this year’s Haj with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who has assured that the government will provide every possible facility to Haj pilgrims,” he said.
Presiding over the conference, the CHC chairman, Tanveer Ahmed, said the arrangements had improved in the light of deliberations and suggestions made at last year’s Haj conference. “But a lot more needs to be done on this account,” he said.
Tanveer said that the CHC will be making efforts to add Lucknow and Cochin as embarkation points from this year, as a large number of pilgrims are from these places.
Many delegates leveled charges of corruption and mismanagement by the CHC at the conference. The delegates demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the charges. On that issue, Tanveer said that the allegations were baseless, but even then the CHC is ready to face an inquiry, if required. The CHC, which gives annually a best arrangement award to a State Haj Committee, picked Karnataka as the winner of this award. Karnataka has bagged this award for the sixth time.
On the occasion, Karnataka Minister for Haj and Tourism, Roshan Beg, urged the center to take every possible step to make Haj travel easier. Beg complained that this year, nearly 1,000 pilgrims from his state had lost their hand-baggage.
Others who also addressed the delegates included — Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Talmeez Ahmed, Ghufran Zahidi, Obaidullah Khan Azmi (both MPs), Syed Shahabuddin, former MP, and ministers for Haj from different states.
