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Haj subsidy to continue
Faced with no prospects in UP to return
to the power, the BJP is now trying to pacify a section of Muslims. The
central government in a sudden volte face has decided not to cut the Haj
subsidy this year even up to half as was being said earlier and has
decided to continue with the Haj subsidy like previous years.
The union government has quietly rejected the proposal of finance ministry
to cut the subsidy of the Haj pilgrims at least to fifty percent and
gradually phase it off completely in a short period. Earlier it was almost
decided and a note was also circulated by the civil aviation ministry to
the same effect. The curtailment of Haj subsidy was being demanded from a
large section of the BJP and several other Sangh outfits.
Apparently it was to soothe the anger of Muslim community following ban on
SIMI and siding with the US in its war against Muslim Afghanistan that the
cabinet took this magnanimous decision. The Cabinet also decided on the
same occasion to put Air India into the service with guidelines that it
should provide the best facilities to Hajis on board.
The long standing demand of people of Lucknow to provide direct flights
from the state capital to Jeddah seems to have been finally accepted. The
city is the parliamentary constituency of the Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee and almost 25000 people go to Haj every year from this area
alone. Special arrangements have been made despite reservation of some
officials in the civil aviation ministry for Muslims to board direct
flights from Lucknow to Jeddah. Official argument that larger aircraft
like Boeing 777 could not take off from Lucknow was turned down by the
Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain and an alternative arrangement
was promptly suggested and agreed to. Indian Airlines Boeing 737 would
take pilgrims from Lucknow to Mumbai from where they will be accommodated
into Boeing 777. Similar flights will be introduced from Srinagar and
Kochi as well.
According to schedule the first Haj flight would take off on 12 January
2002 and continue till 16 February. The second phase would start from 25
February to 1 April. It is apparently the time when elections are supposed
to be held in the state and they believe that the word of mouth publicity
on the single biggest occasion for the Muslims could make a big difference
in the electoral prospects. Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and Omar Abdullah, the
two Muslim ministers in the Vajpayee government are assigned the task to
look after Haj arrangements. Around 72000 people go for Haj through the
government and more than 30000 go through private tour operators.
The total airfare and transit cost of a single pilgrim is Rs 32606 but a
Haji is required to pay only Rs 12000 with the government bearing a
subsidy of Rs 20606 on every pilgrim. Till last year the pilgrims were
made to fly through chartered flights like Medows and Kampuchia airlines
whose services were particularly poor and delay of 24 to 72 hours was
considered a normal affair. Large scale corruption and kickbacks in
awarding these contracts were also reported several times. q |
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