Mumbai: With the Haj pilgrimage to Makkah fast approaching, over 600 private tour operators and thousands of prospective pilgrims are in a fix as the federal government has not yet finalised the Haj quota for them.
The Indian Haj Umrah Association (IHUA) and Khaddaml Hujjah Foundation (KHF), two organisations which take up issues of pilgrims, said the government's delay has got both pilgrims and tour operators extremely worried and put their travel plans in jeopardy.
"We are very upset with the Ministry of External Affairs headed by S.M. Krishna since the final quota has not been released despite application files being submitted before the July 15 deadline," said KHF chief A.M. Athar.
"This press conference is our desperate attempt to express our concerns," he said Monday. He also alleged that the authorities were not releasing the quota in order to sell them in the black market.
IHUA President A.R.Milli said that the Haj season has virtually started and yet there was no move by the centre to release the quota for private tour operators.
This year, Saudi Arabia allocated a quota of 172,540 pilgrims from India. While around 125,000 will go to perform Haj through the Haj Committee of India, under the aegis of central government through the Ministry of External Affairs, the rest of the pilgrims will travel through private tour operators.
"While the Haj committee charges around Rs 125,000 (Dh9,732), we charge up to Rs 200,000 per head for the entire pilgrimage," said Athar. He added that the delay in the release of the quota will result in an hike in air fares which would be borne by the pilgrims, apart from expenses incurred for local travel and accommodation in Saudi Arabia.
