By Special Correspondent, TwoCircles.net,
Ahmadabad: A blunder by Saudi Consulate staffers in Mumbai may force hundreds of pilgrims from Gujarat to cancel their Haj tours this year.
Instead of granting Haj visas to all the members in a `cover’ after having been confirmed for the Haj trip through draw of lots, the consulate staffers have issued visas to some members of a cover and denied it to others.
This has resulted in inconvenience because in many cases only women members have been given visas, with the male members having been rejected.
The Haj applicants affected by it say that Haj rules do not allow women to go on pilgrimage without their `mehram’ or male escorts like father, brother, husband or son, or any other male members coming under the category of `mehram’ as per Islamic rules.
Sayeed Ahmed, who came from Surat to present his case before the Gujarat Haj Committee (GHC) officials here, asked: “How can my female family members go on Haj pilgrimage if the male members are not issued visas?’’
Similar complaints were made by about three dozen Haj applicants from Surat alone who faced this problem, with the GHC officials unable to extend any help in the matter.
In an urgent missive faxed to the External Affairs Ministry through GHC, the Haj applicants said that they would have to cancel their pilgrimage if the male members were not given visas.
They urged the External Affairs Ministry to take up the matter urgently with Saudi Embassy in Delhi and Saudi Consulate in Mumbai.
People are in a state of panic because the last Haj flight from Ahmadabad is on November 9.
Apart from this, 300 pilgrims whose applications were confirmed through draw of lots by Haj Committee of India and the latter also submitted documents including passports to the Saudi Consulate are still waiting for their Haj visas.
GHC in-charge secretary G H Khan said that it was for the first time that such blunders had taken place.
“This is a serious matter and this should not happen as the staffers issuing visas are well aware of the Haj rules”, said Khan.
Gujarat’s annual quota for Haj pilgrims is 3,963 as per 2001 census. But the GHC managed to get cleared over 7,600 Haj applications from the state this year by getting extra allocations from the discretionary quota of the External Affairs Ministry and from other states who failed to utilize their full quota due to paucity of applications.