“... for the first time after Independence, a record 1,75,025 pilgrims from India will go for Haj this year and that too without any subsidy,” Naqvi said at a training camp organised for pilgrims at the Haj House in Mumbai.
Besides, the minister said, for the first time, Muslim women from India will go for Haj without a “mehram” (male companion).
“A total of 1,308 women applied for Haj pilgrimage without mehram. All of them have been exempted from the lottery system and allowed to proceed for Haj.”
This year there are 19,000 pilgrims from Delhi, 14,500 from Lucknow, 14,200 from Mumbai, 11,700 from Kochi, 11,610 from Kolkata, 8,950 from Srinagar, 7,600 from Hyderabad, 6,700 from Ahmedabad, 5,550 from Bengaluru, 5,500 from Jaipur and 5,140 from Gaya.
A total of 4,000 pilgrims from Chennai, 3,250 from Varanasi, 2,950 from Guwahati, 2,800 from Nagpur, 2,100 from Ranchi, 450 from Goa, 430 from Mangalore, 350 from Aurangabad and 254 from Bhopal will also visit Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage.
As many as 1,28,002 pilgrims – including around 47% females – will go on the pilgrimage through the Haj Committee of India while 47,023 will opt for the services of private tour operators.
Naqvi said 355,604 applications were received for Haj this year, including 189,217 male and 166,387 females.
He said at least Rs570mn less will be paid to airlines this year even after ending the Haj subsidy. A total of Rs9.73bn will be paid to airlines for 128,002 pilgrims.
