Summary:
RANCHI: Worried about losing Ranchi as an embarkment point, the Jharkhand State Haj Committee on Monday appealed to applicants for next year's Haj pilgrimage to opt for Ranchi as an embarkment point.Filling of online applications for Haj pilgrimage for 2019 started on October 18 and till date, only 323 pilgrims have applied. "Hajis from Jharkhand have two options for embarkment - Ranchi and Kolkata. Chairperson of the state committee, Rizwaan Khan, said, "According to the rules, at least 1,500 Hajis have to depart from an embarkment point or it will be de-registered. Of the 323 applicants so far, only 191 have applied for Ranchi while the rest have applied for Kolkata. This is the reason that we are appealing to people to apply for Ranchi," Khan said.The committee has also demanded that like Kolkata, Ranchi should also be made embarkment point for neighbouring states like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Odisha "People come to us from Purulia requesting to embark from Ranchi as it is nearer to their districts..