Govt accepts panel's recommendation to hike quota of pvt Haj tour operators

New Delhi: The government has accepted a high-level committee's recommendation of increasing by over three per cent the quota of private tour operators sending Haj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

The high-level committee formed by the government to frame draft 'Haj Policy 2018-2022' had made the recommendation last month.

The committee had recommended that the quota of private tour operators be increased from the present 26.47 per cent to 30 per cent.

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has confirmed that the panel's suggestion has been accepted.

India has an annual Haj quota of 1.70 lakh.

Out of this, according to the allocation for 2017, 1.25 lakh pilgrims could travel to Saudi Arabia through the Haj Committee of India (HCoI).

The private tour operators (PTOs) could transport 45,000 devotees.

The revision of the quota allocation now will mean that 51,000 devotees can travel through the PTOs.

Remaining 1.19 lakh devotees can undertake the journey through the HCoI.

"We have accepted the recommendation. It is a logical recommendation which has been accepted after studying each aspect of the issue including that of interests of the pilgrims," Naqvi said.

He also said that the categories of PTOs have been increased to three from two.

The private players are categorised based on the number of years they have facilitated pilgrims (more the number of years of operation, higher the category they are put in).

Those, who have successfully completed at least seven years of operations, are put in category 1.