By Maqbool Ahmed Siraj
BANGALORE: The BJP Government in Karnatka has promised to construct a Haj House in the State. The proposed building would be constructed on a four acre plot at Belahalli, located on the route to Bangalore International Airport. Most of the states in India have built their Haj Houses, but Karnataka is yet to have one.
Every successive government promised one of its own, on a different locale. But no one knows what happened to the umpteen promises and the plots of land the local Urdu press untiringly identified as the proposed sites.
Latest plan has been unfolded by Prof. Mumtaz Ali Khan, the Minister for Minority Affairs who said a Haj House would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 20 crore. Noted construction company Prestige Group would construct a mosque within the complex at its own cost. Prof. Khan told Islamic Voice in a chat that the wakf land for the purpose of Haj House is being purchased from Yaqeen Shah Wali Dargah at a cost of Rs. 4 crore. The Minister said he would himself contribute Rs. 50 lakh from his personal funds which he received by selling a personally owned farm located on the route to the new Airport.
The Minister informed that he would soon visit Lucknow and Chennai where ideal Haj Houses have come up during the last decade. He said he would consider setting up a Haj Service Society to finance and service the new facility. He said the plan envisages a five-storey Haj House which will be used even for purposes of marriages and other conventions and conferences. It is mooted that philanthropists would be invited to donate money to construct rooms that would be dedicated to the memory of persons designated by them.