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Malegaon/Nagpur:
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan October 08
inaugurated the impressive Hajj House building in state's second
capital Nagpur in the presence of Union Minister of Law and
Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid, and dozen other ministers and
dignitaries of the state.
Built at the cost of Rs 15.5. crore,
the Nagpur Haj House has come up on a sprawling 19,000 sq ft area
in Ganjipeth in the central part of the city and has separate
prayer rooms for men and women. It has 40 rooms with 10-person
capacity.
Speaking on the occasion, Chavan
said the Centre was currently funding four districts, including
Buldana, Hingoli and Washim with a view to enhance the status of
minority communities.
Chavan urged the Union Minister for Minorities, Law and Justice,
Salman Khurshid, who was the guest of honour at the function, to
sponsor the Centrally-monitored projects for minorities saying the
Centre should extend the benefit of four districts to ten other
districts where people from minority are in sizable number.
Union Minister for Social Justice Mukul Wasnik, Chairperson of the
Central Haj Committee, Mohsina Kidwai, and ministers from state
Cabinet, including the Minister for Minority Development Arif
Naseem Khan, besides MPs Vilas Muttemwar, Datta Meghe, Vijay Darda
among others were present on the occasion.
Listing various developmental schemes meant for minority
communities, Chavan said the Maharashtra government had earmarked
Rs 275 crore for recently created Minority Development Ministry
and has plans to raise it to Rs 350 crore in the next budget.
The chief minister said Maharashtra was the first state in the
country to form a separate ministry for Minority Development.
Former Maharashtra Minister Haji
Anees Ahmed of Nagpur who is currently AICC Gen Secretary incharge
of Haryana had played key role for the construction of Nagpur Haj
House.
Following the inauguration of the
Hajj House, the first Haj flight will take off from the city on
October 17.
Mumbai is the other place in
Maharashtra which hosts a Hajj House in VT area of the state
capital.
The state government plans to build
one more Haj House in Aurangabad. The proposal to build the Haj
House in this Marathwada heartland is however facing deadlock
because of the strong opposition from the communal forces.
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