Hyderabad, July 24 (IANS): Telangana has urged the central government to increase the Haj quota for the state in view of the increased demand.

Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali has written a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, requesting her to allow more number of Haj pilgrims from the state to perform Haj this year.

He drew her attention to reports that some states are not availing their entire Haj quota due to lack of demand. Ali said the quota which was not being utilized by such states may be allocated to Telangana as there is huge demand here.

The deputy CM also referred to reports that in view of Iran not sending its pilgrims for Haj this year, India has been allotted an additional quota of 20,000. He said out of this a major share may be allocated to Telangana in view of the heavy demand.

In April, Ali had called on then Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptullah to seek increased Haj quota for the state.

The deputy CM said as many as 44 lakh Muslims were living in Telangana and out of the 17,291 applications received, only 2,532 could be selected as per the Haj quota for the state.

Saudi Arabia had allotted India Haj quota of 94,000 last year.