Team Herald
MARGAO: Chairman of Goa Haj Committee and Vice Chairman of All India Haj Committee Shaikh Jina on Friday lambasted Congress for raking up issues without ascertaining the facts and praised the BJP government.
He said Muslims all over the country have said they do not want the government to subsidise the Haj pilgrimage and pointed to the Supreme Court order passed in 2012 to discontinue Haj subsidy, following a petition filed by some Congress leaders.
People voiced their opinion against the subsidy, when I attended a meeting in Jaipur, he said, adding that the money will now be used to provide educational facilities to the children of the minority community.
He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for convincing the Saudi Arabia king to let single Indian women visit Mecca and Medina and said that this year around 1300 Indian women will be able to perform their Haj.
Disclosing that Rs 22 lakh was spent by the government on people leaving from Goa directly for Haj last year, he said this year Rs 30 lakh was sanctioned.
While admitting that most money is spent on those coming from the neighbouring states, he said this had to be done to get the numbers desired to justify a direct flight from Dabolim to Saudi Arabia.
Jina was hopeful of a direct flight from Dabolim this year too even though the central government has reduced 10 embarkation points and said he had taken up the matter with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and MP Narendra Sawaikar.
