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MUMBAI: The Haj Committee of India (HCOI), the nodal agency for arranging Haj travel for Indian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia , has said most of the 1,75,000 pilgrims from India this year will remain unaffected by the government's decision to withdraw subsidy. In 2018, over 1,25,000 will travel through the Haj Committee, while more than 45,000 will choose private tour operators (PTOs). Only the pilgrimage conducted by the Haj Committee was subsidized.

Months before the Centre announced the end of subsidy, the Haj Committee had told the prospective pilgrims for 2018 that the subsidy might be reduced substantially or abolished completely. The Haj panel had also given options to the pilgrims to choose any of the 22 embarkation points across the country. "As we announced that the subsidy might be abolished, most pilgrims opted for the embarkation points from where air travel would be cheaper. The end of subsidy will not affect most of them," said Haj Committee CEO M A Khan.

Khan explained the way the subsidy worked by citing an example. He said in 2017, the Haj fare from Aurangabad was Rs87,000 per pilgrim, while from Mumbai it was Rs57,000 per head. After the Haj Committee called tenders, an equal airfare (with a cap of Rs67,000) for every pilgrim was decided for all embarkation points except Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, where the airfare was less than this amount. So while no pilgrim from Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad was given any subsidy, pilgrims such as those from Aurangabad received subsidy in air fare. "The Aurangabad pilgrims paid Rs30,000 each for air travel while the government's contribution for each pilgrim was Rs20,000," said Khan.

After the Haj Committee predicted a substantial reduction in Haj subsidy or its abolition in its application forms for Haj 2018, over 3,500 out of a quota of 4,000 pilgrims from Aurangabad preferred Mumbai to Aurangabad. Just around 500 have opted for Aurangabad, which will have more air fare.

The subsidy amount has gone down since the SC's 2012 directive to the Centre to progressively end Haj subsidy by 2022 and use the subsidy money for "uplift of the community in education and other indices of social development." Rationalising the end of subsidy, the SC had cited the Quran saying Haj pilgrimage was mandatory only for those who could afford the expenses. The subsidy given in the last few years was: Rs782 crore (2012), Rs575 crore (2013), Rs477 crore (2014), Rs401 crore (2015), Rs284 crore (2016) and Rs200 crore (2017). For 2018, the Haj Committee had proposed a subsidy of Rs305 crore.

