THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Centre should fix the Haj quota for the state on the basis of number of applicants rather than the strength of the Muslim population, LSG Minister K T Jaleel said on Wednesday. Replying to questions in the Assembly on the new Haj policy, he said the state government had submitted the demand before the Centre. While there are 69,783 applicants this time, only 10,981 pilgrims got the nod. ‘’So our demand is fair,’’ he said.
The state government and the State Haj Committee are making all-out efforts to retain Kozhikode as the embarkation point for Haj pilgrims. The Karipur Airport director had submitted a report stating the runway has been restrengthened enabling aircraft with 250-300 passenger capacity to land there, he aid.‘’Moreover, 80 per cent of the Haajis are from the Malabar region. The government has no plan to construct a Haj House at Nedumbassery. We expect a favourable decision from the Centre on the issue,’’ Jaleel said. The Centre had shifted the embarkation point to the Cochin International Airport Ltd(CIAL) at Nedumbassery triggering protests.
According to Jaleel, ‘’The Supreme Court had directed the subsidy should be stopped in a phased manner and the Centre should regulate the airfares. The Centre adopted one instruction and totally ignored the other’’. Air India and Saudi Airlines are fleecing Haj pilgrims travelling on government subsidy, he said.
In 2016, the airfare was `60,185 while the subsidy was `15,200. In 2017, it was `72,812 and `10,750, respectively. On the other hand, pilgrims travelling privately were being charged `40,000- `45,000, the minister said.
The ruling LDF and the main Opposition LDF had registered their protest at the Centre’s new Haj policy. The MLAs also protested against the Centre’s decision to stop Haj subsidy from 2018 when the SC order was it should be reduced in a phased manner and stopped by 2022.