Record 200,000 Indians to perform Haj in 2019

A record 200,000 Indian Muslims are expected to perform the Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia this year, including 160,000 through the Haj Committee of India and the rest through Haj Group Organisers, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said. The pilgrims will leave by more than 500 flights from 21 embarkation points all over India. Naqvi also said that the number of women Haj pilgrims going without ‘mehram’ (male escort) will be 2,340, or double of last year’s 1,180 women who travelled for the most important pilgrimage in the life of a Muslim.

“This year too, the ministry has made arrangement to send these women for Haj without the lottery system. Of the 200,000 total pilgrims, women would be around 48 percent,” Naqvi said at the inaugural of the newly-renovated hall of the Haj House here.

The flights from India for Haj 2019 began from July 4 from New Delhi, Gaya, Guwahati and Srinagar and other cities in phases. Naqvi noted that this is the first time since Independence that such a large number of Muslims from India will go to perform the Haj without any subsidy, while ensuring there was no unnecessary financial burden on the pilgrims.