The Central government on Wednesday abolished the VIP quota for Hajj pilgrims. The VIP pilgrims will now have to travel like ordinary Hajj devotees. The VIP quota allotted to the Prime Minister, President, Vice President, Minority ministers as well as Haj Committee of India has been cancelled. Presently, 500 seats are reserved for the VIPs.
Recently, the government and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement for Hajj 2023 in which over 1,75,000 Indian pilgrims would be allowed to perform the annual journey.
"The GoI signed a bilateral agreement with the Saudi Arabia kingdom for Haj 2023. This year, 175025 pilgrims from India will perform Hajj," said Member of the Haj Committee of India (HCoI) Er Aijaz Hussain.
This will be for the first time that close to two lakh pilgrims from India will perform the sacred journey.
So far, the highest quota for India was in 2019, when 1.4 lakh pilgrims performed the holy pilgrimage. In the following year, the number was reduced to 1.25 lakh. However, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hajj was cancelled in 2020. In 2022, Saudi Arabia welcomed 79,237 Indian pilgrims for Hajj.
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In 2022, the total number of pilgrims touched 899,353, including 779,919 foreign pilgrims and 119,434 domestic pilgrims.
Minister of Health Fahd Al-Jalajel had said the 2022 Hajj season was successful as there were no epidemic outbreaks or other major public health incidents.
He said only 38 Covid-19 cases were detected in the holy sites and were all dealt with in accordance with health protocols.
The Hajj is considered to be a once-in-a-lifetime duty for all Muslims who can physically and financially afford to do so.
(With inputs from agencies)