LAHORE, June 21: The Haj Quota Mutasareen Joint Action Committee has demanded the abolition of fixed Haj quota system to dispense with a monopoly on the business and save every intending pilgrim from paying Rs20,000 to Rs25,000 for Haj on account of what it called “corruption”.

Voicing the demand at a news conference at the Lahore Press Club on Saturday, committee chairman Abdul Jabbar Anjum and Travel Agents Association coordinator Dr Muhammad Sharif said the people performing Haj through private group organisers were forced to pay the extra amount on account of corruption due to discretionary Haj quota system introduced by the ministry of religious affairs since 2002.

Only 594 companies chosen by the ministry officials arbitrarily were being allowed to organise all private Haj groups under the quota system out of over 1,600. Others had to purchase quota from them for sending people for Haj.

They said the discretionary quota system introduced during the tenure of former religious affairs minister Ejazul Haq in 2002 violated the policy of deregulation and fundamental rights of tour operators to organise Haj groups without government interference.

The quota system also required to be abolished as it had created a monopoly of a limited number of tour operators on the business and the quotas were being allotted arbitrarily without any criteria. They said all private Haj organisers with good reputation should be allowed to send people to Haj either on ‘first come, first served basis’ or automatic data entry system.