Mumbai: The Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi informed on Saturday that 79,237 Indian Muslims would attend this year's Hajj programme in Saudi Arabia, IANS.
Hajj, which has been under severe restrictions due to the worldwide pandemic situation for the last two years, is to start in July.
Naqvi said that among this year's candidates, nearly 50 per cent are women. From the mentioned count will go by 22,636 going via Haj Group Organisers and the remaining 56,601 through the Haj Committee of India (HCI). Including 72,170 online applications, a total of 83,140 people for the holy trip from India, he said.
He added that 1,800 would not be accompanied by "Mehram" or a male companion and without a lottery system.
Naqvi further said that this time Hajj is conducted with major reforms, giving top priority to the candidates' health and well-being. All the preparations were jointly done by the governments of India and Saudi Arabia, he said.
"We are making all-out efforts to ensure there is no additional financial burden on the pilgrims as they will perform the Haj without any subsidy. The process is going on to take accommodation, transportation and other necessary facilities in Saudi Arabia at affordable prices," he said.
The selection process of Haj pilgrims was in accordance with the COVID vaccination protocols and other norms decided by the two governments, he said.
The statewide numbers of selected candidates are Uttar Pradesh with 8,701 pilgrims, West Bengal (5,911), Jammu & Kashmir (5,281), Kerala (5,274), Maharashtra (4,874), Assam (3,544), Karnataka (2,764), Gujarat (2,533), Bihar (2,210), Rajasthan (2,072), Telangana (1,822), Madhya Pradesh (1,780), Jharkhand (1,559), Tamil Nadu (1,498), Andhra Pradesh (1,201), Delhi 835), Haryana (617), Uttarakhand (485), Odisha (466), Chhattisgarh (431), Manipur (335), Punjab (218), Ladakh (216), Lakshadweep Isles (159), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (114), Tripura (108), Goa (67), Puducherry (52), Himachal Pradesh (38), Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (34), and Chandigarh 25.
Pilgrims will have 10 flight boarding points for candidates going through HCI: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cochin, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Srinagar.
The minister added that pilgrims would receive a Digital Health Card, "E-MASIHA" health facility and "E-luggage pre-tagging", providing all information regarding accommodation/transportation in Makkah-Madinah.