Hyderabad: A large number of Haj pilgrims will feel let down this year as only 70 per cent of them will be selected from each district through "qurrah" (draw of lots). The qurrah will be held on Saturday from 8 a.m. onwards to finalise the pilgrims from the State. The newly-constituted 16-member Andhra Pradesh Haj Committee has proposed to draw the lots district-wise so as to ensure justice to every region.

"This has been necessitated in view of the applications exceeding the allotted quota this year. For the Haj 2006-II, a total of 9,225 applications have been received as against the quota of 6,806. If there are 100 applications in a district only 70 will be approved after draw of lots," M.A. Quddus, executive officer, Haj Committee told The Hindu .

He said the qurrah for all the districts will be held at Haj House in one day and list of pilgrims finalised. This exercise got delayed as the Haj Committee was reconstituted under the chairmanship of Maulana Hafiz Peer Shabbir Ahmed only on August 17.

Meanwhile, the Haj Committee is busy sorting out the applications. Hyderabad district leads with a total of 5,385 applications followed by Ranga Reddy (432), Mahabubnagar 402 and Kurnool (400). No applications have been received from the districts of West Godavari, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam.

Qurrah counters

Meanwhile, the State Haj Committee informed that there will be two counters for the twin cities while there will be three counters each for Telangana, Andhra and Rayalaseema for conducting the qurrah.

It also stated that the Central Haj Committee, Mumbai, while processing applications finds any applicant had applied for Haj pilgrimage within a block period of five years, from 2002-2006, will be rejected directly, even if their names were drawn in the Qurrah and that their initial money of Rs.10,700 would be forfeited. Further details are available over phone number 23298793.

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