The Union government has formed a six-member committee to study the ways to improve India’s Haj policy and look into the issue of subsidy to the pilgrimage in light of a 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and abolishing it by 2022.
Afzal Amanullah, former Consul-Consul General of India in Jeddah, has been appointed convener of the high-level panel, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told presspersons here on Saturday.
The former Bombay High Court judge S.S. Parkar, the former Haj Committee of India Chairman Qaiser Shamim, the former Air India Chairman and Managing Director Michael Mascarenhas and a Muslim scholar, Kamal Faruqui, are on the panel. Joint Secretary J. Alam is the member secretary. The committee will figure out whether the pilgrims can travel to Saudi Arabia paying less in the absence of the subsidy.
“The panel will give us a report in a month or two on how India’s Haj policy can be improved, how the pilgrims can get maximum concessions and how Haj can be managed better,” Mr. Naqvi said. The committee will also review the effectiveness of the management of pilgrims’ accommodation and air travel by the Haj Committee of India. — PTI
