Mumbai’s Haj pilgrims won’t get benefit of subsidy

Mumbai: As per the Supreme Court order, the Haj subsidy given by the government will be gradually phased out by 2022, however as the subsidy awarded for Haj 2017 is more than 50 per cent less as compared to last year, pilgrims headed for Haj from embarkation points including Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad will not get benefit of subsidy this year.

The apex court had on May 8, 2012, passed an order to gradually reduce the amount of Haj subsidies being given to pilgrims so that in ten years’ time, it would be phased out. However, in a meeting held on Saturday at Haj Committee of India’s Mumbai office, it was indicated that elimination of Haj subsidy might happen before 2022.

It was also suggested that pilgrims be sent via ships to Haj once the subsidy was eliminated. Readers may recall that the sea voyage for Haj in India has been completely stopped. Yet, the meeting did not discuss the possibility of a sea route, given that there were hardly any passenger ships available now.

Ata-ur-Rehman, CEO, Haj Committee of India (HCI), said, “As per the government announcement, a subsidy of Rs 380 crore was expected for Haj 2017 but finally, an amount of Rs 200 crore has been sanctioned. Last year, the government had granted around Rs 408 crore subsidy, and we divided the subsidy among all Haj pilgrims equally so that airfare remained the same. Last year, we recovered a sum of Rs 45,000 from each pilgrim towards airfare.

“Now with a subsidy of Rs 200 crore in hand, the airfare per head is expected to be more than Rs 62,000 and the actual cost of tickets for Haj from Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad embarkation points is less than Rs 62,000 without subsidy,” said Mr Rehman.