Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hike the Hajj quota for Tamil Nadu for the current year taking into account the huge number of applications received.
“The Tamil Nadu State Hajj Committee has received 13,159 applications from pilgrims for Hajj 2014. Based on the Muslim population, Hajj Committee of India, Mumbai, has allotted a quota of 2672 seats only to the State for Hajj 2014”, the Chief Minister said in her letter to the Prime Minister.
The Chief Minister pointed out that as per the guidelines for Hajj 2014, out of the quota of 2672 seats, 1,180 seats had been utilized for reserved category pilgrims and 1,492 pilgrims had been selected under the general category. “Subsequently, only 100 more seats have been allotted by the Hajj Committee of India leaving a large number of disappointed applicants”, she added.
Observing that during the earlier years, the Government of India had released additional seats over and above the quota which enabled more number of pilgrims from Tamil Nadu to perform Hajj, the Chief Minister said for instance, last year, 3696 pilgrims from Tamil Nadu performed Hajj.
Stating that there was a a great expectation among the pilgrims who had applied for Hajj 2014 and were anxiously awaiting confirmation of their pilgrimage, the Chief Minister requested the Prime Minister’s intervention for the enhancement of Hajj quota for Tamil Nadu. She urged the Prime Minister to advise the Ministry of External Affairs to release an additional quota for Tamil Nadu, so that a greater number of pilgrims are enabled to perform Hajj during 2014.