JK News Today
Jammu, February 6 : As the Saudi Arabia government has decided to allow full quota for Haj this year, Government of India has decided to allow 175000 pilgrims to perform the annual pilgrimage.
With this announcement, the pilgrimage is expected to be cheaper as compared to last two years when fewer pilgrims were allowed to perform Haj due to COVID-19 restrictions.
In 2020 only residents of Makkah were allowed to perform Haj due to strict COVID-19 restrictions and in following two years, quota was increased but not to the fullest. This led to increase in amount to be paid for the pilgrimage and everyone was not able to afford it.
This year when Saudi Arabia government announced to allow full quota, the pilgrimage is expected to be cheaper. During a meeting of Haj Committee of India it has been decided that within few days free Haj forms will be made available across the country and people will be applying for the same.
Sources told JK News Today that GoI and Saudi government had agreed to fix the number of pilgrims for upcoming Haj mutually and it has been decided that 175000 pilgrims will be allowed to embark for Haj from India this year. During the HCOI meeting, it has been decided to scrap the VIP quota which was a burden on the Haj committee and general pilgrims.
