Those planning on making a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca are likely to be greatly relieved by the fact that the Hajj Committees of all states have urged the Central Hajj Committee to cut expenditures by at least Rs.1 lakh from next season, with the latter responding positively to the request.
Along with this, the Telangana State Hajj Committee requested the Central Hajj Committee to increase its annual Hajj quota to 7,000 and that of Andhra Pradesh to 3,000.
In a press conference held here on Tuesday, Telangana State Hajj committee chairman Mohammad Saleem said that the State Hajj Committees requested the Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani to reduce the expenditure of the Hajj pilgrimage from Rs 4 lakh to between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh during a meeting of the Central Hajj Committee on November 12. Irani agreed to consider the request.
“Earlier, each Hajji could perform Hajj by spending Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.25 lakh, but since the last few years it has gone up to Rs 4 lakh. The increase in the expenditure is burdening the poor and middle class. Hence, we requested the Centre to reduce it by at least Rs 1 lakh,” Saleem said.
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Stating that private operators would also be asked to reduce charges for the pilgrimage from next year, Saleem said Hajj committees would monitor the charges collected by private operators. “If they do not follow the guidelines of the government, stringent action would be initiated against them,” he said.
The Central Hajj Committee was planning to increase the annual Hajj quota to 2 lakh from the current year’s quota of 75,000, which is why the State Hajj committee has requested the Centre to increase Telangana’s quota to 7,000 from the current quota of 2171 and Andhra Pradesh’s quota to 3,000 from the current quota of 900.
The Centre has also agreed to remove the age restriction for Hajjis introduced during the Covid period.” During Covid only people below 60-years were allowed to perform Hajj. Now government has decided to allow people of all ages to perform Hajj from next year,” he said.
According to Saleem, applications for performing Hajj will begin in the first week of December. A new set of guidelines for the Hajj pilgrimage will be released by the Central Hajj Committee in December. The Central Hajj Committee will launch an app through which the Hajj pilgrimage process will be initiated.
Telangana State Hajj Committee won the best ’embarkation point award’ for 2022-23, he said, thanking Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for his support.
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