Biryani costs Haj panel Rs 1.20 lakh

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">hyderabad: the state haj committee members and its volunteers have phenomenal appetites. or so it appears if one goes by the rs 1.20 lakh the shc spent on biryani for its members and volunteers posted at the begumpet airport to receive returning hajis this year. official shc records, copies of which are available with <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">the times of india</span>, show that these persons, numbering not more than 20 on any given day, consumed biryani’ worth about rs 1.20 lakh.on an average, a plate of good biryani costs about rs 40.this means each of the volunteer and shc official at the airport, consumed 15 plates of the gourmet dish each day. this amount has been shown as spent under the head biryani at airport’ for the shc members and volunteers spread over 10 days. though the biryani bills that were submitted to the shc were of three famous hotels in the city, it is suspected that they are not originals. sources further said that the biryani bills were ‘created’ to cover up the misappropriation of funds meant for the arrangements for haj-2002. besides the submission of fake bills for biryani, nearly rs 1.5 lakh has been claimed in excess of the actual expenditure incurred on purchasing mugs, buckets, geysers and other articles. these items were originally purchased a day before the commencement of haj camp-2002 on january 15 this year. the committee purchased these items, all worth nearly rs 85,000, from a supermarket at lakdi-ka-pul. before making this payment, the bill was inflated to rs 2.35 lakh and the seller subsequently was paid rs 85,000. the sub-head of biryani at airport’ was first introduced in the shc’s accounts in 2001. the shc has paid rs 59,913 towards biryani at airport’ in haj-2001.the amount was given to one ‘pasha’ through cheque on july 31 last. the shc officials have also claimed rs 70,000 for about 25 mementos that were presented to various officials and volunteers on sunday night for their services during haj-2002. another rs 31,000 were also withdrawn towards miscellaneous expenses to arrange the function. </div> </div>