This year, the Haj Yatris of Jharkhand will finally get a chance to stay at the newly constructed Haj House situated in Kadru before they depart for the pilgrimage. This year, a total of 2,129 Haj Yatris would depart from Jharkhand this year, from which 600 would be embarking from Kolkata while the remaining would depart from Ranchi.
The Haj House will be handed over from Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (JUIDCO) to the State Haj Committee within the next two days, the process for which was started on Thursday. Md. Rizwan, chairperson of Haj Committee said, “The electrification work at the Haj House is still to be done but all the other work is completed. We are hoping to get the handover in two days after electrification of the building.”
Till previous year, the Haj Committee used to make two temporary shelters for the Hajis (pilgrims), one at Kadru and another at the banquet hall of Risaldaar Baba Mazaar. However, this year, all the Hajis would be staying at the modern Haj House.
Rizwan said, “The Haj House has a capacity of 1,000 people and has all the modern facilities including air conditioners, firefighting equipment, recylcing unit and rain water harvesting unit.
There are separate sections for men and women and a huge place to offer Namaaz. The Hajis will also get good quality food during their stay here. The passport and Haj Kits will be given to the pilgrims at the office of this Haj House.”
The Haj Yatra begins from July 21 and would conclude on July 25. There are two flights from Ranchi every day, at 8 am and 11:45 am for the pilgrims.
However, this year, the number of Haj Yatris has reduced as compared to 2018, when a total of 2700 Hajis went on pilgrimage.
“Lack of awareness about the importance of Haj among Muslim community is a major reason behind the drop in numbers. Haj is one of the five farz (duties) of a Muslim but many people who can afford it also do not go to the pilgrimage as they are either unaware or lack interest. We are going to get the district wings to spread awareness so that the number of Hajis increases next year,” Rizwan said.
Around Rs 3 lakh is spent on Haj Yatra per head including flight fares and food and lodging. Till 2017, the government used to provide subsidy for Haj pilgrims on flight tickets if they were booked with Air India, but the subsidy was stopped in 2018.
Rizwan informed that there is no grudge among the community for the subsidy being cancelled as it was only eyewash. “The flight fare of Air India was around Rs. 1.3 lakh and the subsidy would bring it down to around Rs. 70,000 to Rs. 80,000 which is the fare of any private flight. So now people are just taking private flights instead of opting for Air India and thus saving the money anyways,” he said.
However, the committee is preparing a proposal to be submitted to the government regarding sponsoring Haj trips of poor people in the community. “We are also demanding the government to make only Ranchi as embarkment point for the Hajis and not Kolkata as many people prefer to embark from Kolkata and if Ranchi’s embarkment point does not have enough Hajis, it will be shut down,” the chairman said.