Greater transparency will be ensured in the role of private operators involved in Haj pilgrimage, considering that several petitions related to them are pending in courts, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today said.

"Private tour operators have been involved in Haj pilgrimage. We cannot overnight wish them away. We will have to bring them on board and ensure greater transparency, as around 28 petitions are pending in various high courts," he told Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.

He was replying to a supplementary by TDP member M V Mysura Reddy, who sought to know whether the government was keeping a watch on the role of private tour operators involved in Haj pilgrimage.

Krishna said though the government has been relying on services of Air India for carrying Haj pilgrims, this time services of Saudi Arabian Airlines has been hired after competitive bidding.

"We had received around three lakh applications for 2010.

But the quota allotted to India by Saudi Arabian authorities is for 1,60,491 pilgrims. The government has hired 80,000 residential units for pilgrims while private operators would be able to arrange for 40,000 more such units," he said.

To apprehensions by BJP members whether government was prepared to handle the pressure of the pilgrimage, Krishna said, "the preparations are on track. We are fully prepared, fully geared. I agree that it is one of the most complex tasks undertaken by the government. We are practical in our approach and will ensure that pilgrims go and come back safely."

The minister said a secretary-level officer from his ministry is currently in Saudi Arabia overseeing arrangements and will give a report once he is back in two to three days.

Krishna said that the quota allocated to Haj Committee of India is distributed among various states on pro-rata basis according to the Muslim population of each state based on the 2001 census.