New Delhi: Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said even after the ending of subsidy for the pilgrimage and various new taxes imposed in Saudi Arabia, Hajj pilgrims of India will not get any additional financial burden. He claimed that Rs 57 crore less will be paid to airlines this year for Haj pilgrims travelling through the Haj Committee of India.
The Union minister was addressing a training camp for Haj Coordinators, Assistant Haj Officers or Haj Assistants in Delhi. He revealed that a record 1,75,025 Indians were going for Hajj this year and almost half (47 percent) are female, which is another record.
This year government has decided to scrap subsidy for Hajj and the funds saved will be used for providing education to people belonging to minority communities.
For the first time, 1,308 Muslim women from India are going for Haj without ‘Mehram’ (male companion), Naqvi said.