Passport Mela' for Hajj aspirants begins

Mangalore, February 2: A 'Passport Mela' is underway in city for Hajj aspirants as the Hajj Committee of India (HCI) has made it mandatory for them to submit their passports while applying for the holy pilgrimage.

The 'Mela' is being organised by Dakshina Kannada District Hajj Executive Committee (DKDHEC) under the guidance of Karnataka State Hajj Committee (KSHC) at the Yenepoya Trust office located in Karnad Sadashiva Rao Memorial Building near Idgah on Light House Hill Road, here on Wednesday.

According to the organisers this measure has been taken in order to avoid confusion at the last minute, while people are ready to go for Hajj pilgrimage.

Aspirants from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada and Kodagu districts are deriving benefit from the Mela.

The Mela was inaugurated at around 10 am in presence of Yenepoya Mohammed Kunhi, President of DKHEC, Rasheed Haji, Azeez Baikampady, Ahmed Bava and others. By 12:30 pm, around 100 application forms for passports had been issued for the aspirants. The organisers' target is around 300 candidates by 4:00 pm.

The first three persons who received applications were Mohammed Hasan, Abdul Hameed Thumbey and Naz Parveen.

The organisers will help the applicants to fill the applications and explain them about the required documents. The applicants are expected to visit the passport office in Mangalore to get their passports on a scheduled date.

State-wide arrangements

After the Central Hajj Committee introduced a new rule demanding the Hajj aspirants to provide their passport numbers, while applying to set out for their pilgrimage, the KSHC has initiated state wide arrangements to help the aspirants to secure passports before the scheduled date.

From this year, any Hajj application submitted without the passport numbers will be considered as invalid.

A representative of Karnataka State Hajj Committee B R Abdul Wajid informed that arrangements have been made to get passports earlier, so as to avoid confusion and delay after the applicants are chosen for the pilgrimage. In the previous year, several pilgrims had held the Hajj committee responsible when their passports did not get a clearance from the passport authorities.

Abdul Wajid stated that passport officials will be present at the State Hajj Committee office in Bangalore to help applicants access passport applications online. This rule will require extra efforts from the Hajj Committee, as processing passport applications is not as easy and police verification takes a long time for many applicants.

Residents of Bangalore Urban and Rural, Bidar, Chamarajanagar, Chickmagalur, Chikballapur, Chitradurga, Gulbarga, Hassan, Kolar, Mandya, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagara, Shimoga, Tumkur and Yadgir districts are required to submit applications for passports to the Bangalore Hajj Committee office on Richmond Road.

Applicants in Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, North Kannada and Udupi are required to submit their documents to the organisers of the current Mela.

Applicants in Bagalkot, Belgaum, Bellary, Bijapur, Davangere, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Koppal are required to submit their applications at Bright Educational Welfare Cultural and Religious Association, Hubli.