A total of 1,261 applications of pilgrims have been received by the State Haj Committee till the closing date for sending applications for the holy religious trip.
For the trip to Mecca, applications of 648 men and 613 women were received from all the districts, said Salim Raj, Chairman of State Haj Committee, adding that there has been constant rise in the number of applicants every year.
Out of the received applications, only 400 screened applications will be forwarded to the National Haj Committee which will take the final decision. Those devotees who have been applying for the Haj for three years and aged more than 70 years are put in a reserved category, said Raj. There are 178 applications under that category. The final decision on the names will be taken in the month of April. Twelve applications have been received from Balod, 13 from Baloda Bazaar, 9 from Balrampur, 45 from Bastar, 2 from Bemetara, 146 from Bilaspur, 78 from Dhamtari, maximum of 278 from Raipur, 242 from Durg, 26 from Gariabandh, 21 from Champa, 21 from Kabirdham, 75 from Kanker, 48 from Kondagaon, 49 from Korba, 32 from Mahasamund, 7 from Mungeli, 33 from Raigarh, 51 from Rajnandgaon, 8 from Surajpur and 21 Surguja.
