Mangalore: Haj Pilgrims Accuse Private Tour Operators of Cheating 
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (RS/CN)

Mangalore, Dec 8: Haj pilgrims who went on the pilgrimage through private tour operators complained of inconvenience and cheating.   

Forty-three Haj pilgrims, after arriving in the city on Tuesday December 8, began explaining about the problems they faced due to being cheated by the tour operators. The tour operators failed to arrange flights from Mumbai to Mangalore as a result of which they had to travel by bus. 

Prior to this, the tour operators had demanded additional money to buy air tickets from Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and provided tickets only after family members paid Rs 25,000 to the operators in Mangalore.    

A set of 43 pilgrims, who went through Al-Harmaini Tours and Travels paid Rs 1, 85,000 for all the expenses including return air ticket to Mangalore. But the tour operators’ demand for additional money irked the pilgrims and their families. 

An extra Rs 35,000 was collected from each pilgrim which brought the total amount to Rs 2,20,000 per head.

Some of the family members quarreled with the tourist guide who was in the bus and also asked him to call the partners of the tour operating company who were not available over phone or at their office. 

The bus was stopped near Pumpwell where several angry family members of pilgrims had gathered. 

Rasheed, a relative of a pilgrim, said that the partners of Al-Harmaini Tours and Travels in Bandyod in Kasargod and their branch office in the city were involved in this scam. 

He said that both the partners and the city branch officer were involved in blaming each other for cheating the pilgrims of their money, as per their business understanding. “Their blame game is part of this cheating drama which resulted in the inconvenience to the pilgrims”, added Rasheed.
 
All the pilgrims were scheduled to arrive in the city two days ago but due to non-arrangement of air tickets they reached only on Tuesday. Mohammad, a Haj pilgrim, said, “After performing the holy visit we were at Jeddah when our tour operators told us to give Rs 25,000 to get air tickets. We had no money and called our family members to arrange the sum. Also, when traveling, they collected Rs 5,000 twice for expenses”.       

Abdul Hameed, sharing his experience, said that the tour operators should be punished for cheating and such incidents should not happen in future.  He added that the tour operator had agreed to return the money paid first. 

Of the 43 pilgrims, two are from Kasargod while the others are from various parts of the district.

Rahim Ucchil, minority community leader, Bharatiya Janata Party, said that the private tour operators had been cheating people since the past several years, but it had not been exposed so far. 

“This time there is a need to put an end to this dishonest treatment of pilgrims who believed Haj tour is holy and a great opportunity of a lifetime”, he added.

Haneef, a pilgrim, said that the opportunity of the pilgrimage given by the government is for a limited number of people and other interested people travel through private operators who are misusing them.  

Most of the pilgrims said that they will join hands to file a complaint against the tour operator.