BOMBAY, 1 September 2006 — The Central Haj Committee of India, in a resolution passed on Wednesday, has demanded that the federal government grant them permission to carry Haj pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah by private airlines, instead of binding the Haj Committee to make arrangements with the national carrier Air-India.
As per the provisions of the Haj Committee Act of 2002 Haj pilgrims can only by flown in to the Kingdom by Air-India, said Mohammed Owasi, the chief executive officer of the Central Haj Committee. Justifying its demand, the Haj Committee, the nodal organization that coordinates the travel of Haj pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah, argued that if the discretion of selecting airlines for travel is vested with the committee then this would benefit the pilgrims, who would then have to pay less toward airfare and the burden of Haj subsidy would not have to be enforced on them.
Maharashtra Minister for Aukaf Anees Ahmed endorsed the Haj Committee’s idea of inviting global tenders from low-cost airlines and disclosed that Air-India was charging about $1.000 as fare to the Kingdom and thus was not offering any concessions to the pilgrims, despite the fact that all its flights to the region during the Haj period are full.
Ahmed further stated that the pilgrims would not mind if they have to take a four-hour break in their journey on a low-cost airline, which would be cheaper than Air-India.
In another development, turning a blind eye to the nationwide protest against reservations for the Other Backward Castes (OBCs), the Maharashtra government has taken a decision to provide 50 percent fee concession to OBC students in all unaided private professional colleges. The government would also extend 50 percent concessions to students of the Economically Backward Castes (EBCs) to pacify the anti-reservation groups.
Maharashtra minister for social welfare and justice, Chandrakant Handore had originally proposed a complete waiver of fees for backward castes in unaided private technical and professional colleges, while Education Minister Dilip Walse Patil had proposed and urged a fee concession to be extended to OBC and EBC students.
