JEDDAH, 16 January 2006 — Veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan, leader of this year’s Indian Haj goodwill delegation, said there was a pressing need for a total restructuring of Haj management as well as the system of hiring buildings for pilgrims coming through the Haj Committee of India.
“We are not happy with the way the hiring of accommodation is currently done. We need to study how other countries provide better accommodation for their pilgrims,” he told Arab News during an interview in Mina last week. “Fixing rates for various categories in advance is wrong. There should be flexibility to bargain so that we can get better accommodation and solve all problems arising out of bad accommodation,” he said.
Currently the Haj Committee fixes the rates for various categories and then hires the buildings in Makkah and Madinah accordingly. “This puts constraints on getting good buildings. There should be room for negotiating a good price,” he said. “At present, three Indian entities are involved in the system. First is the Haj Committee; transportation is the responsibility of Air-India and then there is the Indian Mission here. Each of these three has its own constraints. Once the pilgrim is here, he is in addition under the supervision of the ‘muallim’. The ‘muallim’ provides the accommodation and transportation at Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat. The ‘muallim’ is not under the control of any of the three entities. Nobody can do anything if the ‘muallim’ fails to provide buses on time. The tendency is of course to blame the mission for everything that goes wrong.”
Rahman Khan said there was need for streamlining the system of sending people from India to assist the pilgrims. “These Khadimul Hujjaj (servants of the pilgrims) number 10 to 15 from each state and their expenses are paid by the state. Nobody knows what they are doing. I did not come across a single Khadimul Hujjaj during my rounds of various camps in either Mina or Makkah. Where are they and who controls them? This needs to be addressed.”
He said Muslim members of Parliament cutting across all party lines conducted various studies and meetings in order to come up with an effective Haj management model based on the Malaysian system. “Called ‘Reforms on the Basis of the Malaysian Pattern,’ all political parties are on board for total revamping. We have finalized the report and it has been submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He is very keen on implementing it after necessary deliberations,” he said.
Concerning the controversy about accommodation in Aziziah, Rahman Khan said not everybody could be accommodated next to the Grand Mosque. “I personally visited the Aziziah accommodation and found the facilities excellent. Remember, the Saudis are creating separate Haj townships for pilgrims. It is a good idea because all pilgrims cannot be accommodated in and around the Holy Mosque.”
When asked about transportation problems reported in the local media, Rahman Khan answered: “Yes, some did complain of transportation problems in the last two days. The Saudis stopped buses from going directly to the Holy Mosque and our pilgrims were forced to take different routes. Some buildings will always have problems. There are problems even in our accommodations back home. In Delhi there is a three-hour electricity cut every day and a two-hour water supply. We tolerate all that. Then why are problems here blown out of all proportion?”
Rahman Khan said an addition of 18,000 was made to the quota of 82,000 at the last minute. “In other words, we had 100,000 pilgrims this year compared to 82,000 last year. Because of this last minute increase in the number of pilgrims, there were problems in finding accommodation and we had to take buildings away from the Grand Mosque. Also, the accommodations provided earlier for Indian pilgrims had been demolished.”
As for the Haj subsidy, Rahman Khan said: “Everybody is obliged to perform Haj if he is able and can afford it. Such people alone can perform Haj. When affordability is the criteria, how did subsidy come into the picture? This is a big question that is being debated in the country. I am not saying whether subsidies should be abolished but definitely there is a debate. We have to think of a time when the subsidy is withdrawn. We should be mentally prepared for that.”
