No Woman Can Undertake Haj Pilgrimage Without ‘Muharram’ No Haj Badal Approved Yet:CHC =>No woman can undertake Haj pilgrimage without ‘Muharram’ as per guidelines issued by the Saudi Arabia government. Meanwhile, the Central Haj Committee (CHC) has not yet approved Haj-Badal while no private tour operator (PTO) has been selected so far for organise the Haj pilgrimage, Executive Officer of State Haj Committee (SHC) Mushtaq Ahmad Lone said. As per guidelines issued by the Saudi Arabia government no woman can undertake the Haj pilgrimage without Muharram, who also should be first timer. About the accommodation at Makkah, the executive officer said there are two categories of accommodation in the Holy City – Green which is near the Harram Sharief and Azizia– which is seven to eight km from there. He said because of new construction going on in Makkah, the number of accommodation there has decreased, with the result we have to accommodate pilgrims at Azizia. Mr Lone said the state or central haj committees have nothing to do with providing accommodation at Makkah as it is being done by Consulate General of India there. Mr Lone said no private tour operation (PTO) has yet been authorised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to book pilgrims intending to undertake Haj-2014. He warned that nobody should deposit any amount with any PTO since the MEA has yet to authorise anybody to book any pilgrim. After there were complaints of cheating of pilgrims by PTOs, the Supreme Court issued an order that only those PTOs who fulfill the cateria laid down by the court should be allowed to organise Haj pilgrimage. Mr Lone said from Jammu and Kashmir five PTOs have been registered with MEA. However, last year only one PTO from the state was alloted 60 seats, he said adding this year the MEA has yet to take any decision about who will be authorised to organise Haj-2014 this year.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 09:25:39 +0000