Private travel agencies in Hyderabad are fleecing Haj aspirants every year in lakhs by taking advantage of the large number of seats allocated to them by the central government. The dream of luxurious travel and completion of Haj by private travel agencies is gradually turning in to a nightmare for pilgrims, who have chosen their services over the government-supported Haj facilities through the Haj committee.
“Private travel agents don’t provide proper food, accommodation and travel facilities which they promise in their advertisements or before leaving for Haj.”
In most of the instances, proper facilities are not provided to pilgrims as promised before leaving for Haj, and are left to fend for themselves in the foreign country despite paying huge money. The private agencies attract these aspirants with ‘beautiful’ promises and under different categories like deluxe, super deluxe and so on. Private agencies are charging about Rs 3 to 4 lakh from each pilgrim and in some cases the charges are as high as Rs 4.5 lakh for each pilgrim.
On the contrary, the charges for pilgrims who go for Haj through the state Haj Committee remains is between Rs 1.60 and Rs 1.80 lakh for similar arrangements and facilities. One of the victims of private tour operators is the Officer on Special Duty Elections Faheem Saberi who went for Haj last year with his spouse. Explaining his ordeal, he said that they paid Rs 3.5 lakh per head for Haj, but whatever promised to him was not provided.
He said, “Private travel agents don’t provide proper food, accommodation and travel facilities which they promise in their advertisements or before leaving for Haj. We were forced to live in a congested hotel room in a 14-storey building with only two lifts.” Declining to reveal the name of the tour operator he said that he has written a complaint letter to the Ministry of External Affairs to look into this matter and come to the rescue of people who are being exploited.
He said, “It is the right time that the central government decreases the quota for private agencies and increases the pilgrims’ quota to the state Haj committees in the country.” The central government has allocated 40,000 slots for pilgrims to the private travel agencies across the country and agencies of the state bagged around 2,300 slots this year. On the other hand, the state haj committee was allotted 2,700 slots out of which only 1,223 seats were left open for draw this year. The remaining seats come under reserved categories.
About 15,000 people have applied for the mere 1,223 slots for Haj 2015 and 12 persons are vying for each seat. Another victim of the private travel agencies Mumtaz Ahmed a retail businessman said that it was his worst decision to go for Haj by a private agency last year. He claimed to have paid Rs 4 lakh for Haj and expected luxurious arrangements by the agency. He said, “The facilities provided by the private agency were not even close to the facilities provided by the Haj Committee of the state.”
Charges under Private Agencies
-Private Agencies charge Rs 3.5 to Rs 5 lakh per head
-Poor facilities and don’t keep the promises
-Take the pilgrims by cheap airlines as against the promised one of Saudi Airlines
-Promise food but don’t provide proper food at right time
-Pilgrims are left in lurch during Haj rituals
Requirement for the Travel
Agency license
-Labor License issued by state government/municipal authorities
-Trade License issued by municipal body
-At least three years’ experience in Haj pilgrims’ service
-Should have turnover of Rs 1 crore per annum in air travel service
-Should deposit Rs 25 lakh in the Ministry of External Affairs
-Trained staff
“Private travel agents don’t provide proper food, accommodation and travel facilities which they promise in their advertisements or before leaving for Haj.”
In most of the instances, proper facilities are not provided to pilgrims as promised before leaving for Haj, and are left to fend for themselves in the foreign country despite paying huge money. The private agencies attract these aspirants with ‘beautiful’ promises and under different categories like deluxe, super deluxe and so on. Private agencies are charging about Rs 3 to 4 lakh from each pilgrim and in some cases the charges are as high as Rs 4.5 lakh for each pilgrim.
On the contrary, the charges for pilgrims who go for Haj through the state Haj Committee remains is between Rs 1.60 and Rs 1.80 lakh for similar arrangements and facilities. One of the victims of private tour operators is the Officer on Special Duty Elections Faheem Saberi who went for Haj last year with his spouse. Explaining his ordeal, he said that they paid Rs 3.5 lakh per head for Haj, but whatever promised to him was not provided.
He said, “Private travel agents don’t provide proper food, accommodation and travel facilities which they promise in their advertisements or before leaving for Haj. We were forced to live in a congested hotel room in a 14-storey building with only two lifts.” Declining to reveal the name of the tour operator he said that he has written a complaint letter to the Ministry of External Affairs to look into this matter and come to the rescue of people who are being exploited.
He said, “It is the right time that the central government decreases the quota for private agencies and increases the pilgrims’ quota to the state Haj committees in the country.” The central government has allocated 40,000 slots for pilgrims to the private travel agencies across the country and agencies of the state bagged around 2,300 slots this year. On the other hand, the state haj committee was allotted 2,700 slots out of which only 1,223 seats were left open for draw this year. The remaining seats come under reserved categories.
About 15,000 people have applied for the mere 1,223 slots for Haj 2015 and 12 persons are vying for each seat. Another victim of the private travel agencies Mumtaz Ahmed a retail businessman said that it was his worst decision to go for Haj by a private agency last year. He claimed to have paid Rs 4 lakh for Haj and expected luxurious arrangements by the agency. He said, “The facilities provided by the private agency were not even close to the facilities provided by the Haj Committee of the state.”
Charges under Private Agencies
-Private Agencies charge Rs 3.5 to Rs 5 lakh per head
-Poor facilities and don’t keep the promises
-Take the pilgrims by cheap airlines as against the promised one of Saudi Airlines
-Promise food but don’t provide proper food at right time
-Pilgrims are left in lurch during Haj rituals
Requirement for the Travel
Agency license
-Labor License issued by state government/municipal authorities
-Trade License issued by municipal body
-At least three years’ experience in Haj pilgrims’ service
-Should have turnover of Rs 1 crore per annum in air travel service
-Should deposit Rs 25 lakh in the Ministry of External Affairs
-Trained staff
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