MUMBAI: Haj pilgrims using services of Private Tour Operators (PTOs) and tour operators have requested union minister of minority affairs Smriti Irani to issue the Haj quota of PTOs. Out of 1,70,000 Haj quota of India this year, 1,40,000 pilgrims will travel through Haj Committee of India while around 35000 will use the PTOs. Haj will be held in the last week of June in Mecca and the first Haj flight from India is scheduled to take off on May 21.
“Quota to PTOs should have been distributed by now as both the travel companies and pilgrims must prepare in advance. Unless the PTOs know who is taking how many pilgrims, they cannot make foolproof arrangements. Even the pilgrims who want to travel through PTOs want to get their seats confirmed. Their quota should be issued soon,” said Haj activist and All India Haj Seva Samiti former president Hafiz Naushad Ahmed Azmi.
Meanwhile, many tour operators, including Yusuf Khereda of Al Khalid Tours and Travels, appreciated the professional style of functioning of minister Smiriti Irani. “She has brought in professionalism in the functioning of Haj and she ensured that we met the senior officials and raised our issues directly to them. We have our Quota which will be issued soon and we will be able to make all the arrangements in time,” said Khereda who has been in Haj-Umrah travels for the last three decades.
Haji Haider Azam who is part of the team currently in Mecca to finalise the accommodation for Indian pilgrims said that accommodations will be made at Aziziya area, around 5 km away from the holy mosque and Kaba precinct in Mecca, as hotels have come up around the Haram Sharief (holy mosque and Kaba) and these hotels are very expensive.
