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India wants its Haj quota increased to 190,000, inclusion in Makkah Road Initiative

India wants its Haj quota increased to 190,000, inclusion in Makkah Road Initiative

India’s existing quota is 170,000. In 2018 however 175,025 pilgrims performed Haj

Hajj 2019

Jeddah: India on Thursday requested Saudi Arabia to increase by 20,000 its quota of pilgrims for the Hajj of 2019, Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in Jeddah. Naqvi was in Saudi Arabia to sign Haj 2019 deal with the Kingdom’s Haj ministry.

India’s existing quota is 170,000. In 2018 however 175,025 pilgrims performed haj as the Saudi government accepting similar requests by the Modi government had increased India’s quota by 5,025.

“We have requested the Saudi authorities to increase our quota from 170,000 to 190,000 in proportion of the population of Muslims in the country. We are very much confident that the Saudi authorities would consider our request favorably,” he said while addressing a press conference at the Indian Consulate on Thursday.

Naqvi said more than 300,000 aspiring pilgrims applied for the next Hajj and the deadline for submission of applications has extended by another week to December 19, following requests from Haj committees in some states.

Naqvi said this year preparations for Hajj in India are advancedby a month and the process of receiving Haj applications started two months earlier.

“Signing of the Hajj agreement was also one month ahead compared to last year,” he said, stating that there will be 21 embarkation points and Calicut, in the southern state Kerala, is restored as an embarkation point after a hiatus of several years.

Naqvi thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman for the excellent arrangements that made the Hajj of 2018 a great success.

“During the talks with the minister and other senior ministry officials, we have assured our full cooperation and support to ensure a smooth and hassle free Hajj in 2019,” he said.

Makkah Road Initiative

Naqvi also hoped that the Indian pilgrims can avail of the Proof of Concept (POC) pre-clearance of immigration facility at their embarkation points under the Makkah Road scheme.

“Discussions with the Saudi authorities are going on this respect, and some important issues are there but we are very much confident that Indian pilgrims would also be the beneficiaries of this scheme for the next Hajj,” he said.

Saudi Arabia has already included Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan in Makkah Road Initiative for Hajj pilgrims. The pilgrims who arrived under the Makkah Road Initiative have their fingerprints taken and passports stamped at the pilgrims’ country of departure and their entry into Saudi Arabia would be facilitated like a domestic flight while their baggage would be sent to their places of residence through the Ministry of Haj.

Naqvi also said that discussions are on with regard to provision of the Haramain High Speed Train facility for the Indian pilgrims for their travel between Makkah and Madinah.

Referring to the move to resume pilgrimage by the sea route, Naqvi said the Saudi government gave last year the go-ahead in this regard and accordingly the Indian authorities had floated a global tender.

“Our ministry had already received a number of tenders and we also floated a fresh global tender this year. We will finalize the modalities for the ship service to resume for the Haj of 2020 as it would be very helpful in cutting down the Hajj costs significantly,” he said.

Naqvi said there had been a substantial increase in the number of women applicants this time, and their percentage ranges between 40 and 47. There is also an increase in the number of women who wanted to perform Hajj without a mahram (accompanying husband or male blood relative), reaching more than 2,000. A total of 1,300 women pilgrims performed Hajj without a mahram for the first time in 2018.

Naqvi also unveiled plans to reform the Private Tour Operator (PTO) policy to make it more transparent and pilgrim-friendly, adding that the new policy for PTO is expected to be ready in 2019.

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