Addressing media persons here on Monday, he said the State at present has only 6,500 seats under Haj quota, and there has been a great demand to increase this.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has assured a Congress delegation that met him recently, of granting an additional 1,000 seats to the State, Kandak said.
The Saudi Arabia government has fixed a quota of 1,73,000 persons from India, which was just 13,000 in 1981. The Central government spends a sum of Rs 1.2 lakh to each Haj pilgrim, he said.
He said the government has also assured of starting a direct Haj flight from Mangalore in the current year, for which a committee will soon conduct a study.
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