Shashi Tharoor’s expertise should be used, Haj pilgrims will tell the Prime Minister in a meeting next week, fed up with the chaos in arrangements this year.
The pilgrims, who will seek Manmohan Singh’s intervention on June 22, said last year was one of the best organised pilgrimages because Tharoor, then junior external affairs minister, had organised everything in advance. Around 160,000 pilgrims went on Haj last year.
“The Haj pilgrimage this year will end up as an utter fiasco if the Prime Minister does not intervene and take matters in his hand. There is no authority to take decisions and there is utter chaos. We will ask the Prime Minister to intervene at the earliest,” said Mujibur Rehman of the Karnataka Haj Committee. “It is sad that there is no person like Shashi Tharoor at the helm of affairs. But the government should not hesitate to make use of his expertise, otherwise pilgrims are going to suffer this year.’’
Every year, the government receives over 200,000 application for the Haj pilgrimage. It makes the arrangements for the pilgrims’ travel, their accommodation, food, safety and health facilities. The Haj pilgrimage starts in November.
The selection of pilgrims is in utter chaos, said Uttar Pradesh Haj Committee’s Naseemuddin Siddiqui. “The government is not serious this time and is treating things in a careless manner. They are changing schedules at the last moment thus delaying things. Last year, things were much better organised,” he said.
“Last year, for a change, everything was well planned and organised. This, despite the largest contingent and the looming threat of H1N1. It was possible because there was an efficient person like Shashi Tharoor at the top who coordinated everything well in advance,” said Firoze Ahmed Siddiqui, a member of the Jamiat Council that oversees Haj related work in Uttar Pradesh.
Name of Source: The Telegraph