By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Kochi: Some special coaches will be allotted for Hajis to facilitate their easy travel, said E Ahmed, Union Minister of State for Railways. The government will consider allotting special trains to facilitate the easy journey of Hajis to the five important embarkation points. Special quotas too will be made available for Hajis in trains, in cooperation with the Haj Committee, he added.
Mr Ahmed was inaugurating the two-day Pookkottur Haj Camp in Malappuram district on Saturday.
There are 17 embarkation points in the country. Special quota in trains will be allotted for the Hajis to travel to Kozhikode, Guwahati, Varanasi, Aurangabad and Indore, the embarkation points where maximum number of Hajis are reported to be travelling.
The present government has increased the Haj quota to 1, 65,000. Earlier it was only 72,000. The Prime Minister will visit Saudi Arabia to discuss matters including increasing the Haj quota of the country, Mr Ahmed said. About 2, 20,000 people have applied for this year’s Haj pilgrimage.
Panakkad Syed Muhammedali Shihab Thangal, state President of the Muslim League, presided over the function. Abdussamad Pookkottur, state secretary of the Sunni Yuvajana Sangham, gave the class on Haj.
Thousands of Hajis from all over the state took part in the Haj camp.