Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said here on Friday that the Centre was considering actively the revival of the option of sending Haj pilgrims via sea route to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in consultation with the Shipping Ministry.
Addressing the participants at a trainers’ programme for Haj pilgrims at Haj House here, Naqvi said that a high-level committee, formed by the Government to frame the Haj Policy 2018 according to Supreme Court’s 2012 order, was exploring reviving the option of sending pilgrims via sea route to Jeddah.
Naqvi said that dispatching pilgrims through ships would help cut down travel expenses by nearly half as compared to airfares. “It will be a revolutionary, pilgrim-friendly decision,” he said.
The practice of ferrying Haj pilgrims between Mumbai and Jeddah by waterways was stopped from 1995. Currently, devotees undertake the journey by air from 21 embarkation points across the country.
Naqvi said that another advantage with ships available these days was that they were modern and well-equipped to ferry 4,000 to 5,000 people at a time and that could cover the 2,300-odd nautical miles one-side distance between Mumbai and Jeddah within just two to three days. Earlier, the old ships used to take 12 to 15 days to cover this distance. “The high-level committee will soon submit its report,” he said.
Naqvi said that the new Haj Policy was aimed at making entire Haj process easier and transparent. Haj pilgrims’ facilities would be in focus of the new Haj policy.
Naqvi said that the Minority Affairs Ministry, in coordination with other concerned agencies, had started preparations for Haj pilgrimage very early. “Our aim is to provide world class facilities to Haj pilgrims. The measure to make Haj process online has produced good results. A total of 1,29,196 Haj applications were done online,” he said.
Naqvi said that the increase in India’s annual Haj quota by the Saudi Arabia Government has benefitted about all the States as quota of the States for Haj 2017 has also been increased significantly. Saudi Arabia had increased annual Haj quota of India by 34,005.
More than 500 trainers from different States are participating in a three-day trainers' programme. The trainers will now train the pilgrims in training camps.
As many as 99,903 people went to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for Haj from 21 embarkation points across India through Haj Committee of India during Haj 2016. Apart from this, about 36,000 Haj pilgrims had proceeded for Haj through the private tour operators. For Haj 2017, a total of 1,70,025 people will go to Haj pilgrimage from India out of which 1,25,025 pilgrims will go through Haj Committee of India while 45,000 people will go through Private Tour Operators.