Union Minority Affairs Minister inaugurates 2-day training of ‘Khadim-ul-hujjaj’ to assist Haj pilgrims

May 7: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi inaugurated a two-day training camp of “Khadim Ul Hujjaj” at Haj House in Mumbai today.

These “Khadim-ul-Hujjaj” will assist the Indian Haj pilgrims in Makkah-Madina. Union Minister Shri Naqvi urged them to give special attention to the health and hygiene of pilgrims. In this two-day training camp, more than 400 “Khadim-ul-Hujjaj”, including 12 female trainees, from all the states will be participating. They will be made aware of all processes related to Haj in detail, including accommodation, transport, health and safety of Haj pilgrims at Makkah-Madina.  The Officials from Haj Committee of India, Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Disaster Management agencies, doctors, officials from airlines, customs and immigration will be imparting them training over two days.

79,237 Indian Muslims will go for Haj 2022. It includes 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.

There will be 10 embarkation points for Haj 2022 pilgrims going through Haj Committee of India – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cochin, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Srinagar.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister said that Haj 2022 is taking place with significant reforms giving utmost priority to health and well-being of the Haj pilgrims.  He 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.

Haj pilgrimage could not take place for the last two years due to Corona. Stating this, the Minister added, “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”.

Naqvi also informed that the selection process of Haj pilgrims has been done in compliance with the laid down protocol for COVID vaccination and other necessary norms decided by the Government of India and the Saudi Arabia Government.

Making the entire Haj 2022 process 100 percent digital/online has been extremely beneficial to ensure health and well-being of the people besides transparent, accessible, affordable and convenient Haj pilgrimage, stated the Union Minister.  This time, 72170 Haj applications have been received online, which is a big achievement, he further said.

Naqvi also mentioned 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.

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.