How did the Haj become so risky?

Indian Haj pilgrims have alleged massive mismanagement by authorities complaining about severe water shortage inadequate accommodation a lack of transport services lack of coordination and the absence of guides for khidmat among other problems These issues have been compounded by the inability to reach the tollfree number provided by the Haj Committee for assistance leaving many pilgrims feeling deserted Additionally reports of deaths among pilgrims from various countries including five from Maharashtra have heightened concerns Approximately 175 lakh Indian pilgrims participated in the pilgrimage this year with around 125 lakh to 135 lakh going through the Haj Committee of IndiaThe packed tent in MinaA Thane resident with a political background has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde asking a CBI inquiry about the mismanagement scam midday spoke with several pilgrims from Mumbai to gain an insight into the challenges faced during their important spiritual journey Sohel Rokadi 52 a toy business owner said he had been trying to embark on the pilgrimage for the last four years and this year his number was selected He left for the journey with five family members after paying Rs 320 for each personldquoThe facilities we received were not what we paid for The problems started as soon as we reached our accommodation building For almost two to three days we had no water We have to maintain hygiene but there was no water Accommodation was in a complete mess If a family had five members four would be accommodated in a single room and the fifth was sent to some other room In rooms where there were four of a family including women they accommodated bachelors Isnrsquot there supposed to be some privacyrdquoPilgrims say there was a shortage of food even for those who booked via private operatorsRokadi also accused the committee of mismanagement in making the travel arrangements He claimed that his family was compelled to walk several kilometres in the scorching heat ldquoThe buses for travelling from our room to Arfat were not on time We waited from night to dawn and many from morning to evening for the bus Many were compelled to book private cars by paying 200 riyals after waiting for the bus for hours Other countries had AC buses but we were provided school buses The bus dropped us 510 km away forcing us to walk The buses provided by other countries stopped near the tent Did these countries pay more to reach the tentrdquo he questionedlsquoDropped far from MinarsquoAccording to Rokadi they faced same problem while travelling to Mina Mina is also known as Muna and commonly known as the lsquoCity of Tents The valley is located 8 km southeast of the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia ldquoWe were dropped off kilometres away and compelled to walk The tent at Mina with a capacity of 2500 had around 3500 in it Leaving no space to walk people were sleeping near the toilet Is this what we get for the amount we paid The tollfree numbers are not in use Not a single person received a response from them We are here to pray not to complain But the facilities provided are not proper and the Indian government should look into the mismanagementrdquo said RokadiOvercrowded tent in MinaHe further added that this year some government officials had come along for khidmat as guides ldquoThe khidmatdar usually helps in taking the luggage or pushing the wheelchair But they were just standing around the place and doing their own thing When we approached them they said lsquowhen you pay less this is what you getrsquo Private operators are charging four times the amount which is why we chose the Haj Committee But they are running a scamrdquo he said adding that many people have died due to a heat stroke ldquoNo one was ready to pick them up for hoursrdquo ldquoLater facilities were made available but what is the use They brought us to die here And we are ready to accept death but not due to mismanagementrdquo he saidFahad Hingwala 32 who runs a cloth business in Mumbai and had gone with four of his family said ldquoThe facilities provided by smaller countries like hotel arrangements tents and other facilities are much better than what India provides We are the third largest country to send pilgrims but the arrangement is messed up We wonder if there is any corruption They have facilities to accommodate 3 5 and 8 people but are purposely accommodating some bachelors in the family room The tent we were provided in Mina had no cooler or AC facilities We were sweating throughout the dayrdquo he said adding that none of the authorities were ready to take responsibilitylsquoStood in queue for hoursrsquoMeanwhile a person who went from Maharashtra through a private tour operator said the situation was the same He booked his trip through a wellknown international operator but still facing difficulties ldquoWe got food only after standing in a queue for hours We wonrsquot complain as we came here to pray We are sharing a tent with citizens from Nigeria and other countries It was very difficult due to less space Half of the people donrsquot even get food on the trip and are getting segregated when it is time to pray and praise the lordrdquo he saidPilgrims waiting for the busIrfan Shaikh alias Bablu Shaikh a resident of Thane who is the Haj Committee member of Maharashtra appointed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has also raised the mismanagement and lack of arrangements issues ldquoAfter Hajj started I began receiving complaints from pilgrims about the lack of facilities We tried to contact and reach the Haj Committee but received no response Hence we approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Shinde raising the issues They are taking R320 lakh from people in Mumbai and Rs 340 lakh from people in Nagpur then why such mismanagement From Maharashtra there are around 21000 Hajis and for them only 89 khidmat people are appointed Even so they seldom bother to take care and feel doing khidmat is below themrdquo said BabluHe added ldquoThey have to make basic arrangements but fail to do so so where is the money going Countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan and providing good facilities then why are we lagging Is there a scam If we calculate more than 150 lakh people from India went on pilgrimage and the amount collected will be in hundreds of crores We ask them to show the agreement to the Hajis which indicates a particular amount was spent for accommodation and travel But they are not ready to show the same clearly indicating a scam in the same Hence we have asked for a CBI inquiry and removal of Liyaqat Aafaqi the CEO of Haji Committee of India He is personally handling the process and not involving any person from the Haj Committee Our organisation also asked to arrange buses for pilgrims from their house to the airport But it was refused When can we get facilities in India like we see in other countriesrdquoWell managed Haj CommitteeThe Haj Committee refuted all the allegations claiming they had managed the Hajj trip well and claimed some mismanagement would have happened as the crowd was huge Liyakat Aafaqi CEO Haj Committee said ldquoI will ask people not to believe in rumours and pictures that have been circulated on social media We have made proper arrangements There were complaints of accommodation but as soon as we found out we rectified the issue if we saw that a family is accommodated in a single room As for the tollfree number at a single time there are around 175 lakh people and many would be calling on the same number causing a network issue There is a huge crowd of pilgrims from all over the world numbering around 18 lakh people And in such a crowd there would be some issues like traffic and narrow roads So people may have faced some delays or dropping But all the buses were provided and reached on timerdquoTalking about the deaths reported Aafaqi said there were around 58 people from India who died during the pilgrimage ldquoAround 29 of these are natural deaths and others are preHaj deaths All of them were 60 years of age or older Adding it to it was the heat The medical teams are working really hard There are also some missing persons from India and we are in the process of location themrdquo he said1kTotal no of pilgrims who have died on the Haj this year