MillenniumPost
Delhi

Haj draw draws ire again

Utter chaos prevailed during the draw of lots for the Haj pilgrims for 2012 in Talkatora Stadium on Thursday, when the server failed. Thousands of applicants were sent back by the officials. But later, to everyone’s surprise, a list was put up at Haj House at Turkman Gate in the evening.

'Only 350 applicants had participated in the lottery when server went down but officers released a complete list of 1,339 applicants in the evening. The allotment is completely arbitrary and non-transparent,” said Atif Rasheed, president of Delhi Pradesh Minority Morcha.

The server of the lottery for the people willing to go on Haj is situated in Mumbai. Every year, the government makes arrangements for draw of lots.

'My name appeared in the waiting list. I don’t know how they allotted me a waiting seat,” said Adil Rasheed, a 40-year-old applicant from Okhla. Last year also, people were asked to return.

'This happens every year. The solution is to increase the Haj quota from present 1,500 to 3,000 and adopt a traditional lottery system to make it transparent,' said Atif Rasheed.

When contacted, Chairman of Delhi State Haj Committee, Pervez Hashmi, said he was unaware about the matter and not in a position to comment on it. Around 8,000 people from Delhi had applied, and the names of 1,339 appeared in the list.
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