Rajesh Sinha

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Friday shot down a proposal to increase the airfare for Haj pilgrims this year, a move likely to be seen as a sop to the minority community ahead of the elections in Gujarat.

“The fares for the Haj pilgrims will continue as earlier,” information and broadcasting minister P R Dasmunsi told journalists after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.

The proposal was to increase the return airfare from the present Rs12,000 to Rs16,000 following a steep hike in global fuel prices and also the imposition of a 50 Riyal per pilgrim tax by the Saudi Arabian government.

The current fare of Rs12,000 has been prevalent since 1994.

Further, Dasmunsi said Varanasi would also be included as a point of embarkation for Haj 2007. Over 1.10 lakh people are expected to undertake the pilgrimage this year, he said.

Observing that UPA government puts the highest emphasis on interests of the minorities, he said besides implementing the Sachar Committee recommendations, the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the prime minister have decided that the pilgrims “should not be burdened with extra fares”.

The airfare for the round trip to Jeddah and Madina would remain at Rs12,000 and the balance would be borne by the Centre as subsidy, he said. The airport tax of 50 Saudi Riyals, imposed for the first time by Saudi authorities, would also be met by the government.

The overall subsidy would be Rs343 crore under the present situation, and was likely to go up to Rs 368 crore finally, he said, adding that this figure was high because India is the only country in the subcontinent to send such a big number of Haj pilgrims. The pilgrimage is scheduled to begin this month.

Source : DNA