Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir gets 2000 Hajj seats among the surplus seats generated by underutilized quota of states as a special measure, parliament was informed on Thursday.
Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, minister of minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said In 2013, the Haj quota allocated to India was 1,36,020 and in the last five years, it has increased by 63,980.”This year, 2,00,000 pilgrims would be going for Haj and all of them would perform haj without any subsidy. This is a record number in the history of India,” he said.
Out of the total quota of 2,00,000 pilgrims, he said a 1,40,000 pilgrims has been allocated to Haj Committee of India (HCoI) and 60,000 pilgrims to Haj Group Organisers (HGOs), earlier known as Private Tour Operators (PTOs). “In this 60,000 allocation, quota of 10,000 seats would go to economically weaker section at HCoI rates.”
The Government of India, he said, has adopted a very transparent and 100% digital system and created Haj portals for pilgrims and HGOs, he said.
“This time, in 18 states, 100% applicants are going for Haj. The quota allocated to HCoI is distributed amongst the States/UTs on the basis of their respective Muslim population, based on the 2011 census figures,” he said, adding, “ The surplus seats generated by underutilized quota of states are utilized for providing 500 seats to Mehram, 2000 seats to state of Jammu & Kashmir as a special measure, full quota to States/Union Territories receiving 500 or less Haj application forms but have not been able to satisfy all of the applicants and for the ladies going for Haj without Mehram.”
The quota still remaining is further allocated to States/Union Territories in proportion of number of applications received, he added.
