New Delhi: In view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Haj Committee of India on Thursday announced the Haj Action Plan 2021 with major changes.
This time, the Haj pilgrims will be selected through a lottery system in January and then again in July, while the expansive guidelines will be released soon, Zee News reported.
The applications will be available from November 7 and the last date to submit it is December 10.
Due to the coronavirus, people aged between 18 and 65 years will only be allowed to perform Haj. Women travelling without male relatives–for whom 500 seats have been reserved–can go in a group of only 3-3 instead of four women.
In the case of more applications forms than the given quota, then in January 2021, the committee will take out lottery and the passengers will be selected accordingly.
As per Zee News, the Haj pilgrims selected via the lottery will have to deposit Rs 1.5 lakhs of the first instalment instead of Rs 81,000 as earlier. Pilgrims will have to submit the final instalment by March 1, 2021. The total Haj expenditure is yet to be announced.
The flights for pilgrims for Saudi Arabia will commence from June 26 and will go on till July 31, 2021. These flights will operate from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Srinagar, the report added.
