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Mumbai:
Maharashtra State Haj Committee on Monday held the computerized
draw of 42,677 Haj applications it had received to finalise the
names of 8,673 Hajis of its total quota.
The draw ceremony held at Hajj House
was presided over by Minister of Minority Development Department
Arif Naseem Khan. It began about an hour late than the scheduled
time at 08:30 a.m. and ended by 12:30 p.m.
Addressing the draw ceremony,
Maharashtra State Haj Committee Executive Officer Siraj Inamdar
said that a total of 42,677 applications from all across
Maharashtra were received by end of the last date of submission on
April 25.
Out of this, 2,463 applications were of the applicants
above 70 yrs of age whereas 2,396 applications were of Hajis who
applied for consecutive fourth time.
"Deducting 4,859 such applications
from the total state quota, draw will be held for the remaining
3,614 seats", he said.
The computerized draw for these
3,614 seats were then completed district wise in alphabetical
order.
The total quota of the state was
earlier distributed to various districts based on the total
population and percentage of the Muslims in the particular
district.
From Nashik district, a total of
4,019 applications were filed. Of them, 213 were above 70 yrs of
age and 340 applications were of the Hajis who applied for the
fourth time. Hence the total 553 hajis were directly selected and
draw were held for the remaining 185 hajis of its total quota of
738.
A large number of people from Mumbai
and other parts of the state were present at Haj House to witness
the draw ceremony. Emotional scenes were witnessed as a large
number of applicants could not find their names in the draw.
Minister Arif Nseem Khan while
addressing the ceremony said that looking at the large number of
applications the Haj Committee had received, the government was
trying to seek additional quota from the government of Saudi
Arabia.
Every year around 3.5mn people from
different parts of the world travel to Makkah for Haj. To restrict
the total number, Saudi government has allotted quotas for
different countries. The Haj Committee of India has been allotted
a quota of 1,25,000 hajis.
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