The decision of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to give 20,000 more seats to private tour operators (PTOs) this time is likely to affect Haj pilgrims from the State.
The Saudi Arabian government on Monday fixed India’s Haj quota at 1.36 lakh for 2014. India’s actual quota was 1.70 lakh. This was reduced to 1.36 lakh last year due to an expansion work at the grand mosque in Mecca. The quota remained unchanged this year as the work had not been completed, sources said.
Last year, the MEA slashed the entire PTO quota and allocated the seats to State Haj Committees (SHCs). This time, the decision was in favour of PTOs, sources said. Last year, 1.20 people had gone on pilgrimage in the government quota. Only a lakh people would be able go through SHCs this time.
SHC chairman Kottumala T.M. Bapu Musliar said the MEA’s decision was a major blow to pilgrims from the State. “It is expected to bring a significant cut in the already scarce State quota,” he told The Hindu.
The State quota was yet to be fixed. The committee had invited applications from pilgrims and the State quota was likely to be 5,000, he said. “This is when the State receives around 45,000 applications in the government sector,” Mr. Bapu Musliar said.
Meeting plannedThe committee would convene a meeting and convey the State’s concern to the Central Haj Committee and the MEA, he said.
“We will urge the MEA to review its decision,” he said.
Various socio-religious organisations criticised the MEA action.
The State unit of the Jamaat-e-Islami urged the Union government to revoke the decision. “It was a ‘secret deal’ between the government and the PTOs. Authorities should not be on the side of lobbies and interest groups which try to commercialise the pilgrimage,” Sheikh Mohammed Karakunnu, State assistant amir of the Jamaat-e-Islami, said.
National Secular Conference State president and former chairman of the State Haj Committee P.T.A. Rahim said the government was being cruel to poor pilgrims in the State.
The Indian Haj-Umrah Group Association, a collective of PTOs from the State, welcomed the MEA move stating that it ‘gave them their due.’
This was promised last time when the 20 per cent slash was made at the cost of PTOs, the association said in a press release here.
