Mumbai: Haj Committee fleecing pilgrims? Rs 25 lakh blown in every meeting

Around 125 lakh people went for Haj last year via the committeeLakhs of Haj hopefuls depend on the Haj Committee of India to arrange the holy pilgrimage to Mecca for them every year but of late many of them feel like the committee is taking them for a very different ride The committee which is supposed to serve the pilgrims is instead splurging their hardearned money on business flights across the country and trips to Saudi ArabiaAlso read Community members Muslims wont be fooled anymoreEven as thousands of citizens are forced to spend their entire life savings to pay for the pilgrimage sources have revealed that the Haj Committee is spending more than Rs 25 lakh on every single meeting money that comes from the enrolment fees of lakhs of citizens applying for the pilgrimageBusiness class flightsAs per policy the committee is supposed to hold at least four meetings a year at Haj House in south Mumbai But the agency usually holds six or more meetings over the course of the year spending heavily each time There are a total of 23 members in the committee and every meeting is attended by around 16 to 18 members The members are flown in from different state travels Not only do 90 of them fly business class but they often book the tickets just a day before the flight when ticket fares at peak price This is despite the fact that they are informed of the date of the meeting well in advance The members spend an average of two days in the city while some of them are accommodated in rooms at Haj House other are put up at hotels said a source Their accommodation meals and travel all add up to about Rs 25 lakh per meeting Say the committee holds six meetings at this rate it ends up spending about R15 crore solely on meetings every year he addedPast criticismThe Haj Committee had earlier also been criticised for sending delegations of 10 to 12 members to Saudi Arabia every year to check the arrangements made by the Indian consulate in the Arab country Sending such a huge team costs crores said sources The authorities has since cut the delegation to just three to four members but suspiciously the expenses never reducedMoney mattersHowever committee members claim that a majority of the money collected from Hajis is spent on organising the pilgrimage and on expenses such as salaries for staffers and volunteers The first step towards Haj is to enrol with for a fee of R300 The committee received around Rs 11 crore from as many as 355 lakh enrolments for 2018 This charge is for processing the application said a member of the committee However not everyone who enrolled will be lucky enough to go for Haj The committee can only accommodate 13 lakh pilgrims Last year the figure was lower at 125 lakh pilgrims As for the remaining 225 lakh people who will miss out this year the Rs 300 charge is nonrefundable total of R675 croreOfficials said this money is distributed among the 23 regional Haj committees across the nation From every Rs 300 collected around Rs 200 goes to the statelevel committees while R100 remains with the head office in MumbaiThe 13 lakh who are selected for Haj are then asked to pay another R81000 This year the last date for payment is February 12 Out of this Rs 80000 is a deposit we ask them to make so we can be sure of their commitment to the pilgrimage said a source who further added The remaining Rs 1000 is charged as further processing feesWhile the deposit is eventually spent on the pilgrims travel the Rs 1000 charge is used by the committee for its expenses For 13 lakh pilgrims this comes up to a total of Rs 13 crore For every Rs 1000 received the central Haj committee keeps Rs 550 and sends the remainder to the state committeesThe other sideDr Maqsood Ahmed Khan chief executive officer Haj Committee said The money we collect is not the earning of the committee as this is a nonprofit initiative In fact our expenditure is more than our collection Despite this we get no funding from the government we do it all on our own The committee members said that they have to pay salaries to 80 permanent staff and 150 seasonal staff who help with the enrolment and processing The money collected from Hajis also goes towards the maintenance of Haj HouseAnother big expense they pointed to was arranging volunteers to help the pilgrims on their journey They claimed they spend around Rs 2 crore ever year just to train the khidmatgars volunteers also known as master trainers and arrange for their travel lodging and boarding We hold a twoday training programme for khidmatgar since each one is responsible for 500600 pilgrims During the training we also cover their meals and accommodation which costs about Rs 2 crore said our sourceHouse of Godgtgt Indians constitute one of the largest national groups that perform Haj gtgt Hajis can opt to travel with the Haj Committee of India HCoI or registered Private Tour Operators PTOgtgt HCoI is a statutory body established under the Haj Committee Act 2002gtgt This year the quota for Indian Hajis is 13 lakh through HCoI and 45000 through private operatorsgtgt Candidates who fail to get selected for Haj thrice would earlier qualify for reserved seats on the fourth attempt This reservation has now been abolishedVoicesAkbar Shah Tameez BiRejected for Haj for 5 yearsWe have paid Rs 3000 over the years for enrolment There should be a system to refund the money of those who are rejectedAmin Patel Congress MLAThe committee is meant to serve the Hajis They should make enrolment for Haj free of chargeHaji Haider Azam vicepresident BJP MumbaiRs 25 lakh is not a small amount that they can spend this every time they hold a meeting They collect R24 crore every year how can they claim to exhaust this amount It stinks of corruption I will write to the PM and Minority Affairs minister about thisRais Shaikh muncipal councillor SPThis is a completely illegal practice Most of the Hajis are middleclass senior citizens who spend their life savings to go for Haj If the committee is enjoying on the cash of Hajis they will have to answer to godInput by Saeed A KhanRs 24 crAmount the committee collected from Hajis for 2018 pilgrimageRs 2 lakhPer head cost of HajRs 13KAmount paid as enrolment and processing feesRs 24 crAmount the committee collected from Hajis in 2017Rs 25 lakhCost of a single meeting held by Haj CommitteeRs 15 crApproximate amount spent on just meetings annuallyCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go