The Uttar Pradesh Haj Committee on Tuesday said a record number of over 30,000 pilgrims from the state would undertake Haj this year. Women pilgrims will be able to go on the pilgrimage without a mahram (a man who accompanies a woman on the journey).
“India has got a quota of 1.75 lakh pilgrims for Haj this year and this time, a record number of over 30,000 Muslims from UP will undertake the pilgrimage this year,” Uttar Pradesh Haj Committee chairperson Mohsin Raza said on Tuesday.
The Saudi government had announced in October that mahram (a male blood relative of a woman with whom marriage is not permissible) was no longer required to accompany a woman pilgrim from any part of the world. Raza said that the male ‘Khuddam-ul-Hujjaj’ (those who serve Haj pilgrims) would be accompanied by their women counterparts this Haj which is expected to begin around June 26.
“The Haj Policy-2023 will be issued from the coming week and the application process for this year’s pilgrimage will be started. A notification will also be issued in 2-4 days. The government will provide better facilities to Haj pilgrims. This time, people will get a discount of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh for Haj,” Raza said while assuring better facilities to pilgrims this year.