The Hindu : Karnataka News : Govt. seeks alternative site for Haj House

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 20, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Govt. seeks alternative site for Haj House

By Our Staff Reporter

The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh (left), greeting in Bangalore on Sunday devotees embarking on Haj pilgrimage. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE, DEC. 19. The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, on Sunday welcomed the Haj pilgrims, who will take the first flight to Mecca on December 21.

He promised them that the Haj House announced in the Budget will soon be a reality. The delay in fulfilling the assurance made by his predecessor, S.M. Krishna, was mainly on account of the site chosen (on Miller's Road) being under dispute.

Mr. Dharam Singh spoke of the reason that drove the Congress to form a coalition government with the Janata Dal (Secular).

It was to keep out the communal forces out and to ensure that the minorities joined the mainstream.

"I know that in Bangalore there are 2.5 lakh Muslim voters and I had first given an assurance on Haj House as Public Works Minister. Now, as Chief Minister, I reiterate it, and urge you to find an alternative site so we can get going on fulfilling our promise. It is my duty to do so and I don't consider it a favour," he said.

To show that the Government had the interests of minorities at heart and Muslims deserved their entitlement, the Centre had increased the Haj subsidy from Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 80,000 a head. This year, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, had announced income tax exemptions, he said.

The Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Rahman Khan, said India sent the second largest number of pilgrims on Haj every year and yet, the facilities, funds and subsidy were too little in comparison. Malaysia, which sent only 20,000 pilgrims each year, had set up a huge Haj fund, of over Rs. 40,000 crores, and virtually ran its own airline service to ferry the pilgrims in comfort and without any strain on the purse.

He said while the Government was doing all it could, to emulate Malaysia it was time the community rallied together and decided to sacrifice the subsidy, pay their way, and put all the savings into a fund that could achieve what Malaysia had.

While welcoming the Chief Minister's commitment to making Haj House a reality, he gave voice to the feeling among Muslim leaders that while every community had its own "Bhavan" on Miller's Road or around it, they were being asked to choose places such as Yelahanka.

"Why can't we have our own Bhavan in the heart of the city? " Mr. Rahman Khan asked.

Mr. Khan said he would use a good part of funds from the MP's Local Area Development Scheme to make that a reality. "There was nothing wrong in the community asking to be given what was its constitutional right," he said.

The former minister Roshan Baig corrected Mr. Dharam Singh as to the number of Muslims in Bangalore, saying that there were at least nine lakh of them making a home in the city. "Bangalore's Muslims don't just live in Shivajinagar, Commercial Street, Koramangala or Fraser Town. They live in D.J.Halli, Kadugondanahalli, and so many slums, where they lack basic amenities, jobs, and even food and water. I urge the Chief Minister to issue Yellow Ration Cards to them," he said.

Mr. Baig was felicitated on the occasion for his dedicated service to the cause of the Haj pilgrims.

The Minister for Labour and Wakfs, Tanveer Sait, and the former Union Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief were present.

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