Two years on, Haj House in Bhopal remains incomplete
On April 28, 2013, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had laid the foundation stone for the Haj House -- a building from which Haj pilgrims would leave for their pilgrimage from the following year.
On April 28, 2013, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had laid the foundation stone for the Haj House -- a building from which Haj pilgrims would leave for their pilgrimage from the following year.
However, the promise has fallen flat due to the apathetic attitude of its implementing agencies.
The issue has come into limelight once more, as Haj flights will begin from the first week of September from Bhopal and the embarking point for Haj pilgrims will have to be Tajul Masjid again.
Antar Sigh Arya, minister for the minority welfare department, paid a visit to the site of the Haj House at Singarcholi two days ago and expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of construction.
He was informed that it may take another three months to complete the House and that would also be without concrete plans for a connecting road to the building.
"All the delay is because of the contractor. The Haj committee is supervising the work while the Capital Project Administration (CPA) is the construction agency. We are just helpless watchers," said Haji Inayat Hussain, chairman of the MP state Haj Committee.
"We were supposed to get the Haj House by June 2014. Since then deadlines have been shifting and the project has been delayed for over 8 months. Funds were never a problem since the cost of the complete project had been transferred to the construction agency," Hussain added.
Sanawwar Patel, the former chairman of the committee, under whom the project had started, said, "Even during my tenure, when work got delayed, we wrote several letters to the CPA to expedite the work."
Though the Haj House was announced during the Congress regime in 2003, the project could not take off due to legal hassles over the land that was allotted for it. Later, the BJP government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan allotted another piece of land at Singarcholi and sanctioned R6 crores for the project.
A grand foundation stone-laying ceremony was organised on April 28, 2013, when the CM promised members of the community of all help in the completion of the Haj House and also immediately sanctioned funds for the purpose.
The Haj House is to be built over 1.53 acre of land. Though the plan of the building was sanctioned for ground plus three floors, till date only the ground and two floors have been completed.
The Haj House will be able to accommodate 700 people, while about 3,000 people go to the Haj every year from Bhopal.