The Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare minister and Chairman of State Haj Committee, Mohammad Azam Khan, has demanded that the office of the Central Haj Committee should be shifted either to Delhi or Lucknow. The Central Haj Committee office is located in Mumbai. Mr. Khan said since Haj pilgrims now don’t go for the annual pilgrimage by sea, there was no basis for the Haj Committee office to be located in Mumbai.
Mr. Khan said ideally the Central Haj Committee office should be located in Lucknow, as the largest number of Haj pilgrims are from Uttar Pradesh. The U.P. Haj Committee chairman said that this year, 32,214 people from the State would undertake the annual pilgrimage.