Tanzeem demands withdrawal of lottery system for Haj pilgrims

Kanpur, July 3 (UNI) The Tanzeem Khuddam Aazmin-E-Haj has demanded the withdrawal of lottery system imposed by the Mulayam Singh government to select the Haj pilgrims as the number of applicants has crossed the permissible limit of 21800.

The Tanzeem, which virtually gheraoed the Union Minister of state for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal here yesterday, criticised the Uttar Pradesh government saying that if quota of Haj pilgrims were decided through lottery, they would miss their wives, close relatives and others with whom they were planning to go for Haj.

''This is not the way to decide the number of visitors,'' the Tanzeem's state unit Vice-President Haji Nayeemuddin Siddiqi said.

If government had fixed the quota of 21,300 Haj pilgrims, it could have released only that much forms but it issued 27,300 forms.

Mr Siddiqi urged Mr Jaiswal to impress upon the union Minister of Haj Affairs, E. Ahmed and get the quota increased.

Mr Jaiswal however, assured the delegation to accommodate the applicants in special circumstances.

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