Denied visa,300 miss flight,Haj

A total of 300 Haj pilgrims from Gujarat whose allotment had been confirmed by the Haj Committee of India (HCI) were not able to board their flights on Friday after Saudi Arabian consulate officials failed to endorse their visas.An official of the Gujarat Haj Committee said the last Haj flight for pilgrims from Ahmedabad took off at 1.30 pm on Friday. And since there is no other flight for them now,the 300-odd pilgrims would have to cancel their pilgrimage this year and wait for next year.However,the official said,all these pilgrims would be given back the money they had deposited with HCI and be given confirmed status next year. The official said neither the Gujarat Haj Committee nor the HCI could be of any help since visas were issued by Saudi consulate in Mumbai. The central and state Haj committees,he said,only coordinated with the Saudi consulate and played the role of facilitators for the pilgrims.Another batch of around 90 women pilgrims from the state,according to officials,had to cancel their pilgrimage since Saudi consulate officials would not allow them to perform Haj without their male mehram (attendants).According to HCI sources,such problems arose in two other states as well Karnataka and Maharashtra which account for the largest number of Haj pilgrims after Gujarat. From Gujarat,a total of 7,200 pilgrims are reported to have embarked on Haj flights arranged by the HCI till Friday afternoon. Another batch of 4,909 pilgrims from Gujarat,according to Haj Committee sources,are flying to Saudi Arabia through 69 private tour operators from Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The last Haj flight arranged by private operators will take off from Ahmedabad on November 11.Many Haj pilgrims prefer private operators,which also arrange for home-cooked food at Mecca and Madina but charge huge amount for services.Those going through HCI have to make their own arrangements for food. A total of 1.25 lakh Indian pilgrims fly to Saudi Arabia through HCI and another 45,000 through private operators.