Over 55,000 Haj aspirants, including 10,000 fourth-time applicants, from Kerala will have to wait for another year to try their luck for the pilgrimage as the State quota released by the central Haj committee can accommodate only around 8.5 per cent of the total applicants this time.
As many as 65,180 people applied for the pilgrimage from the State this time, while the government quota sanctioned is only 5,633. However, all the 3,068 fifth time applicants as well as 1,851 aspirants above the age of 70 will be able to go for the holy trip this time, State Haj Committee sources said.
Though the Haj committee had decided to give priority to fourth-time applicants while selecting candidates from the list of applicants last year, hundreds were not considered as the quota was limited. “It is the fifth time applicants who have been given priority this time,” E.C. Muhammed, assistant secretary, State Haj Committee, said. Only around 700 of the 10,100 fourth-time applicants would be able to go for Haj under the government quota this time, he said.
There are 3,83,146 applicants for the pilgrimage from the entire country this year. However, only 94,000 seats have been released by the central Haj committee to different State governments so far. This has been done based on the Muslim population in each State. Kerala is the State with the most number of applicants for the pilgrimage while it is only sixth in terms of the quota allowed.
The quota is allowed on the basis of the population and is not proportional to the number of applicants from each State, State Haj Committee chairman Kottumala T.M. Bapu Musaliyar said. “This continues to be so, despite our repeated requests to change it and make it on the basis of number of applicants,” he said.
The total number of Haj seats allowed by the Saudi government for the country this time is 1,36,020, of which 1,00,020 have been given to different State Haj committees.
The rest will be distributed among various private tour operators (PTO).
65,180 applicants from the State
Only 700-odd fourth-time applicants to go
