Mumbai, 07th May, 2022:

Union Minister for Minority Affairs & Deputy Leader, Rajya Sabha, Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said here that the Haj 2022 is taking place with significant reforms giving utmost priority to health and well-being of the Haj pilgrims. While inaugurating a two-day training camp of “Khadim Ul Hujjaj” at Haj House, Mumbai today, Shri Naqvi said that the entire Haj 2022 process has been chalked out with necessary guidelines of the Indian Government and the Saudi Arabia Government. These include eligibility criteria, age limit, health related requirements etc.

Shri Naqvi said that Haj pilgrimage could not take place for the last two years due to Corona. 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. Process is going on to take accommodation, transportation and other necessary facilities in Saudi Arabia at affordable prices.

Shri Naqvi said that the selection process of Haj pilgrims has been done according to complete Corona vaccination with both the doses and fulfilling the necessary norms decided by the Indian Government and the Saudi Arabia Government. Shri Naqvi said that making the entire Haj 2022 process 100 percent digital/online has been extremely beneficial to ensure health and well-being of the Haj pilgrims besides transparent, accessible, affordable and convenient Haj pilgrimage.

Shri Naqvi said that 79,237 Indian Muslims will go for Haj 2022, these include about 50 per cent women. Out of these, 56,601 Indian Muslims will go for Haj 2022 through Haj Committee of India and 22,636 Muslims will go through Haj Group Organisers (HGOs). The entire process of HGOs has also been made transparent and online. More than 1800 Muslim women will go for Haj 2022 without “Mehram” (male companion), these women will go to Haj without lottery system. A total of 83,140 applications had been received for the Haj 2022. Shri Naqvi said that for Haj 2022, the pilgrims will go through Haj Committee of India from 10 embarkation points- Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cochin, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Srinagar. Ahmedabad embarkation point will cover entire Gujarat. Bengaluru embarkation point will cover entire Karnataka and Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Cochin embarkation point will cover Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Andaman & Nicobar. Delhi embarkation point will cover Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, western districts of Uttar Pradesh. Guwahati embarkation point will cover Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Nagaland. Hyderabad embarkation point will cover Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Kolkata embarkation point will cover West Bengal, Odisha, Tripura, Jharkhand and Bihar. Lucknow embarkation point will cover all parts of Uttar Pradesh except western parts; Mumbai embarkation point will cover Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Srinagar embarkation point will cover Jammu-Kashmir, Leh-Ladakh-Kargil.

The following number of Indian Muslims will be proceeding to Haj 2022 from different states through Haj Committee of India. Andaman & Nicobar Islands- 114; Andhra Pradesh- 1201; Assam- 3544; Bihar- 2210; Chandigarh- 25; Chhattisgarh- 431; Dadra and Nagar Haveli- 17; Daman & Diu- 17; Delhi- 835; Goa- 67; Gujarat- 2533; Himachal Pradesh- 38; Haryana- 617; Jammu-Kashmir- 5281; Jharkhand- 1559; Karnataka- 2764; Kerala- 5274; Laskhdweep- 159; Madhya Pradesh- 1780; Maharashtra- 4874; Manipur- 335; Odisha- 466; Puducherry- 52; Punjab- 218; Rajasthan- 2072; Tamil Nadu- 1498; Tripura- 108; Uttar Pradesh- 8701; Uttarakhand- 485; West Bengal- 5911; Telangana- 1822 and Ladakh- 216.

Shri Naqvi said that Digital Health Card, “E-MASIHA” health facility and “E-luggage pre-tagging”, providing all information regarding accommodation/transportation in Makkah-Madinah, will be provided to all the Haj pilgrims.

In this two-day training camp, more than 400 “Khadim-ul-Hujjaj”, including 12 female, from all the states have participated. Officials from Haj Committee of India, Vrihan Mumbai Mahanagar Palika, Disaster Management agencies, doctors, officials from airlines, customs and immigration informed these “Khadim Ul Hujjaj” in detail, all the process related to Haj including accommodation, transport, health and safety of Haj pilgrims at Makkah-Madina. These “Khadim-ul-Hujjaj” will assist the Indian Haj pilgrims in Makkah-Madina. Haj Committee of India Vice-Chairman Munawari Begum Sahiba and Mafuja Khatoon Sahiba; other Members of the Committee and CEO Shri Yakoob Shekha were present on the occasion.