Haj House Inaugurated in Jaipur

Jaipur: The new Haj House was inaugurated by chief minister Ashok Gehlot on May 7. The building took ten years to complete as the RSS and VHP opposed the project cleared by Gehlot in his previous tenure in 2003. The foundation stone was laid by BJP chief minister Ms. Vasundhara Scindia in 2006 braving opposition from the far right bodies who had moved the court against allotment of land pleading that a secular government could not allot land for a specific religious community. However, Ms. Scindia had gone ahead with her Government’s support even though one of her minister too had opposed the project. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony at Karbala near Ramgarh Mor here, Gehlot said the Rajasthan government was committed to the welfare of minority communities and had created a Rs.200-crore Minority Development Fund. He said a grant of Rs. three crore had helped the Waqf Board to carry out survey of nearly 3,000 waqf properties in the state. He said a provision of Rs. 25 crore has been made for modernization of madrassas in the state.