Hike Haj slots: KCR

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday appealed to the Centre to increase quota of Haj slots allotted to the state for 2015.

In a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the Chief Minister said Telangana has been allotted a meagre number of Haj pilgrims which has left a number of applicants disappointed. The number of seats allotted to Telangana has come down from what it was in combined state of Andhra Pradesh, he said. The demand in Telangana for Haj seats is very high. 15,419 persons applied for the 1,223 slots left open after reservation, i.e more than 12 persons vied for every slot.
The position in Hyderabad is more acute as 23 persons applied for every slot available, he said. The Chief Minister urged Swaraj to intervene in the matter and allot additional slots to the state.