RTI on Haj
Info asked & recd 1) Year wise no of Indians who went to Haj pilgrimage & the govt expenditure on the same.( from year 2000 to 2009) 2) Criteria used for selecting the persons to be sent for Haj from the list of applicants Info recd from Haj Committee, Haj House, Mumbai Year / Pilgrims Proceeded / Expenses incurred by Administration 2005 / 80,772 / Nil 2006-I / 99,660 / Nil 2006-II / 1,08,816 / Nil 2007 / 1,10,415 / Nil 2008 / 1,21,787 / Nil Haj committee of India confirms Wait – listed Haj applications against the cancellation of recd from Haj Pilgrims. I went into appeal stating that expenses cannot be Nil. It is known that Govt gives subsidy for Haj Pilgrimage. Criteria for selection is not given. PIO ( & not AA) wrote back to me informing that amount of subsidy given by GOI is not known to their office. It is directly paid by GOI to Air India. However a subsidized airfare of Rs. 12,000/- is charged to from the Pilgrims traveling from various embarkation points to Jeddah / Madinah Munawwarah and back. In the State Haj committee where applications are recd in excess of their quota , then the seats are confirmed to the intending pilgrims through Qurrah( draw of lots) I wrote back ( AA does not come into picture , PIO is only communicating. There is no hearing) arguing that section 6(3) be used for transferring my application about expenditure & also asked details about Qurrah- ie criteria for selection. The application was transferred to Ministry of Civil Aviation, New Delhi . About Quarrah I was informed that Haj Committee of India has developed Web-based software for central solution for this purpose. Yesterday I recd following info from ministry of Civil Aviation The total airfare cost of Haj 2008 operations was Rs. 1,013.39 crores ( approx) on 1,21,695 pilgrims . Each pilgrims paid an amount of Rs.12,000/- towards airfare and the balance cost of Rs. 867.32 crores ( approx) is to be borne by the Government. Thanks & Rgds Ajay Marathe -- Thanks & Rgds Ajay Marathe Vashi, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
