Aadhaar to be linked with Haj application in UP
The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to link the Haj application process with the Aadhaar number of the applicant to ensure “greater transparency” in selection of pilgrims.
Officials believe this will help identify those who have undertaken the pilgrimage more than once. “We are planning to link the process of filing of the Haj application with the Aadhaar number of the applicant, so as to check whether the applicant had undertaken Haj earlier or not. This will ensure greater transparency,” Mohsin Raza, minister of state for minority affairs in the UP government, said. “The process is about to start, and soon, some concrete mechanism will be put in place,” he said.
“We will bring transparency and honesty to the system under our government. It should not be like I allow only my family and relatives to avail the benefits,” the minister added.
BJP leader Mazhar Abbas, meanwhile, said: “If linking Aadhaar with the Haj application process could ensure transparency, then it must be incorporate into the current system.”
On Saturday, Raza made an appeal to “rich Muslims” of UP to consider giving up Haj subsidy so that the poor and deserving could get an opportunity to perform Haj. “The poor must get subsidy for Haj pilgrimage, and not the affluent ones. I appeal to the rich Muslims to give up their Haj subsidy,” Raza said. PTI