New Delhi: Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Tuesday that a record 2 lakh Indian pilgrims will perform Haj this year. Interestingly more than 48 per cent of the pilgrims are women of which over 2,340 women will perform Haj without “Mehram” (male companion) this year. These women will be sent without the lottery system. Last year 1,180 women had performed Hajj without ‘Mehram’.
2 lakh Indian Muslims will go to Haj this year without any subsidy, on more than 500 flights and from 21 embarkation points across the country, Naqvi said. Those include 1.40 lakh pilgrims who will go through the Haj Committee of India, 60,000 who will go through Haj Group Organisers.
19 health centres — 16 in Mecca and 3 in Madina — have been established for the convenience of the pilgrims.
As reported by India Today, flights for Haj will depart from Delhi, Gaya, Guwahati and Srinagar on July 4, from Bengaluru and Calicut on July 7, Goa on July 13, Cochin on July 14, Mangalore on July 17, Mumbai on July 14 and 21 and Srinagar on July 21.
While in the second phase, flights will depart from Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Lucknow on July 20, Bhopal and Ranchi on July 21, Aurangabad on July 22, Kolkata and Nagpur on July 25, Hyderabad on July 26, Varanasi on July 29 and Chennai on July 31.
As per the guidelines of Hajj 2019, if a pilgrims misses the flight after booking he/she shall have to deposit Rs. 25,000/- per pilgrim to be accommodated in the next flight subject to availability of seats.