Srinagar, Oct 29: Corporate Kashmir, an amalgam of various businesses establishments,  on  Saturday expressed serious concern over the alleged duping of aspiring Hajjis terming the incident as “unbearable and exploiting the sacred sentiments of the people.”
 Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers’ Federation and Jammu Kashmir Association of Hajj & Umrah Companies, Srinagar held a joint meeting to “discuss the painful situation arising out of grave and serious lapse by certain so called PTOs refusing the Hajj pilgrims the holy pilgrimage on unfounded pretexts”.
 The organizations in the joint statement said: “Money has been collected about one and a half year back with no proper arrangement for conducting the Haj Tours. They are now shifting the responsibility by accusing the Ministry of External Affairs, GOI and other agencies for their lapses.”
 “The meeting strongly condemned their action of cheating the aspiring pilgrims and playing with their sacred sentiments. Hajj is a supreme religious ritual and exploiting the sacred sentiments of the people in the name of Hajj is highly unbearable,” the joint statement said.
 The President Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed deep anguish about the happenings with regard to Hajj pilgrimage. “Aspiring pilgrims have been made to suffer without having regard to sanctity of this important religious obligation,” he added.
 The meeting appreciated the Ministry of External Affairs for increasing the number of Private Tour Companies from five to nine and allotting 513 Haj Seats to the Private Tour Companies of the State of JK for Hajj 2011.
 President of Jammu and Kashmir Association of Hajj & Umrah Companies, Srinagar stated that the Association had apprised the state government about the apprehensions of aspiring pilgrims “But proper heed was not paid towards the timely warning”.
 The meeting requested the state government to take “appropriate action under law against the defaulting agencies.”

Lastupdate on : Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:00:00 IST