Refund Rs 2.4k cr, compensate applicants: Ex-Haj panel chief

Nagpur: After the Saudi government cleared its position on not permitting pilgrims from other countries to perform Haj next month, former chairman of the state Haj committee Jamal Siddiqui on Tuesday demanded that the Haj committee of India must not only refund the pilgrimage fee immediately but also carry forward the same shortlisted applicants for next year. He also sought compensation for the applicants.
Saudi Arabia took the decision in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising cases within the country. This would probably be the first time in history that the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca has been called off for foreign citizens.
This year, the committee had received 1,500 applications for the Nagpur embarkation point. The list included 400 that were shortlisted for the government quota seats. At the state level, 10,500 pilgrims were set to embark on the holy tour. They had submitted the fee in two instalments (Rs81,000 and Rs1.2 lakh) between January and February.
The Saudi government had already asked its Indian counterpart to halt the process following the Covid outbreak in March. “The Central government didn’t cancel the annual pilgrimage on its own. The Haj committee of India, too, held on to Rs2,400 crore collected from Maharashtra though we had been demanding immediate refund as people were facing financial problems,” Siddiqui said.
Slamming the Haj Committee of India, Siddiqui said it must tell the applicants and the community if interest was earned on this whopping amount. “Interest is illegitimate in Islam. The money belongs to community members. As per my information, Rs73crore was the interest accrued on the deposits in the committee’s savings account,” he said.
Siddique said the committee already has reserves of Rs3,000 crore on which interest is being earned. “These funds are lying unused. They must be utilized to improve the infrastructure for Hajis,” he said.
Amid the confusion over the pilgrimage, the state government had disbanded the committee on June 10, dealing a blow to the processing of refund claims.
Lashing out at the state government, Siddique said that instead of strengthening the committee, the government was in a hurry to bring in its own people and dissolve the committee.
Meanwhile, former minority affairs minister Anees Ahmed, too, said that refunding the money must be a priority. “The process for Haj 2021 must start from this year itself and the same applicants must be given priority,” he said.