UP wants centre to increase Haj quota

Lucknow, May 15 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government is going to ask the central government to increase the quota of Haj pilgrims from the state, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said here Tuesday.

He said this at a lottery draw held to pick names of pilgrims who would get the chance to go on Haj from the state this year.

Yadav said his government was committed to providing all possible facilities to the pilgrims, including completing a Haj House in Ghaziabad within a year and acquiring land for a similar house in Varanasi.

Pilgrims on their way to Delhi for their flights to Mecca stop over at these houses.

Yadav said the previous Bahujan Samaj Party-led government had ignored the Haj Houses, adding that the earlier Samajwadi Party (SP) government had built a Haj House in Lucknow.