Haj panel spent Rs 1.2 lakh on biryani

hyderabad: the state haj committee(shc) members and its volunteers have a phenomenal appetite. or so it appears ifone goes by the rs 1.20 lakh the shc spent on biryani for its members andvolunteers posted at the begumpet airport to receive returning hajis this year.official shc records, copies of which are available with tnn, show that thesepersons, numbering not more than 20, consumed biryani worth about rs 1.20 lakh.on an average, a plate of biryani costs about rs 40. this means each personconsumed 15 plates of the dish a day during the 10 days. the amount has beenshown as spent under the head ‘‘biryani at airport’’.the ‘biryani’ bills that were submitted to the shc were of threefamous hotels, but it is suspected that they are not originals. sources furthersaid that the biryani bills were ‘‘created’’ to cover upthe misappropriation of funds meant for the arrangements for haj-2002. besidesthe submission of fake biryani bills, nearly rs 1.5 lakh has been claimed inexcess of the actual expenditure incurred on purchasing mugs, buckets, geysersand other articles. these items were originally purchased a day before thecommencement of haj camp-2002 on january 15 this year. the committee purchasedthese items, costing nearly rs 85,000, from a supermarket. before the paymentwas made, the bill was inflated to rs 2.35 lakh and the seller subsequently waspaid rs 85,000. the sub-head of ‘‘biryani at airport’’was first introduced in the shc’s accounts in 2001. the shc paid rs 59,913towards ‘‘biryani at airport’’ during haj-2001. theamount was given to one ‘pasha’ by cheque on july 31 last. the shcofficials have also claimed rs 70,000 for about 25 mementos that were presentedto various officials and volunteers on sunday night for their services duringhaj-2002.