The Hindu : National : More Haj pilgrims in 2006

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Friday, Aug 12, 2005

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More Haj pilgrims in 2006

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday decided to increase the number of Haj pilgrims for the 2006 season to one lakh. This marks a jump of 18,000 pilgrims from this year's 82,000.

Announcing this, Union Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Jaipal Reddy said the quantum of subsidy provided would also subsequently go up, but the exact amount would depend on the availability of aircraft from Air India and other airlines. Income-tax payees would also be eligible. But priority would be given to those who did not come under the IT net, he said.

Coal projects

The Cabinet decided to dispense with in-principle approval from Planning Commission for power and coal projects and to set a time limit of 24 weeks for their appraisal and approval in a bid to hasten their clearance and implementation.

In addition, it decided to make mandatory clearance from the Environment and Forest Ministry for these projects prior to their approval by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. If there was cost escalation of more than 10 per cent of the overall cost after or due to environmental and forest clearance for any proposal, it would be referred back to the Public Investment Board, Mr. Reddy said.

The CCEA, which also met on Thursday, decided to set the statutory minimum price of sugarcane at Rs. 79.50 per quintal for the sugar season 2005-06. This is linked to a basic recovery of nine per cent subject to a premium of 88 paise for every 0.1 percentage point increase in the recovery.

The new price, which had been recommended by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, marked an increase of Rs. 5 per quintal from the 2004-05 season.

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