Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday flagged of the first batch of the Haj pilgrims. The first batch of 410 Haj pilgrims had left for Madina and Over 1,200 Haj pilgrims for Saudi Arabia in three flights from Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.
Besides Delhi, 269 from Guwahati, 450 pilgrims from Gaya, 900 from Lucknow and 1,020 pilgrims from Srinagar left for Saudi Arabia for Haj.
According to the Minority Affairs Minister, “Haj 2018 has been organised according to the new Haj Policy for ensuring better facilities to the pilgrims and a smooth journey to Haj.”
“Despite the removal of Haj subsidy and various taxes imposed in Saudi Arabia, pilgrims will not face any additional financial burden,” Naqvi added.
For the first time after Independence, a record 1,75,025 Muslims from India are going for Haj, while Government will facilitate a total of 1,28,702 pilgrims across India through the Haj Committee this year.
On July 17 pilgrims from Kolkata, on July 20 pilgrims from Varanasi, on July 21 pilgrims from Mangalore, on July 26 pilgrims from Goa and on July 29 pilgrims from Aurangabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Nagpur, will embark for Haj.
On July 30, pilgrims from Ranchi, on August 1 pilgrims from Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cochin, Hyderabad and Jaipur, and on August 3, pilgrims from Bhopal, will embark for Haj.
