The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Acute shortage of Haj application forms

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Sunday, May 04, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Acute shortage of Haj application forms

Special Correspondent

Intending pilgrims urged to exercise restraint
Xerox and downloading of forms is allowed

Hyderabad: The State Haj Committee is faced with a piquant situation as it is unable to meet the rising demand for Haj 2008 applications.

For the second day on Saturday there was utter chaos at the Haj House here with the intending pilgrims far outnumbering the available application forms. Police had to be called in to control the crowd which turned restive as the forms exhausted in no time.

The Haj Committee has so far issued 7,300 forms, including 1,800 on Saturday. Yesterday, 3,500 forms were lapped up in just few hours while 2,000 were despatched to districts. The limited number of 4,000 forms received from the Central Haj Committee, Mumbai, has led to the problem. Looking at the tremendous demand 1,500 photocopies of the application forms were made yesterday and even they were exhausted.

Order placed

“We have placed order for printing of additional 10,000 forms. It will take time. We will be issuing 1,000 forms per day,” said Haj Committee chairman Hafiz Peer Shabbir Ahmed.

He urged the intending pilgrims to exercise restraint and cooperate with the Haj Committee staff. Those who couldn’t obtain the forms today were seen entering into argument with the Haj Committee staff. There were also unseemly scenes at the SBI extension counter at the Haj House for payment of money.

The Haj Committee officials are surprised at the uproar for forms as there is time up to May 31 for issue and submission of application forms. Though xerox copies and downloading of forms from the Haj committee website is allowed, everybody wants to obtain the printed form only. Going by the demand, some 25,000 forms are expected to be issued by month-end and the number of forms submitted might cross the 15,000 mark, it is said. Last year 11,000 applications were submitted but only 7,022 were selected.

Restriction removed

The huge rush for forms is attributed to the slight change in rules this time. To cut down non serious candidates, last year the application forms were issued to only those who produced the demand draft of Rs. 10,700 towards the advance foreign exchange. This restriction is removed now resulting in even those who are not serious about undertaking the pilgrimage obtaining the forms, said Mr. Shabbir Ahmed.

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