The Haj Committee of India will be writing a recommendation letter to retain all 21 embarkation points for the pilgrims along with a few other suggestions to the Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, on Saturday. The recommendations will be given by the panel on the new Haj policy submitted by the Haj Policy Review Committee for 2018-22.
According to the committee, they have been getting a lot of recommendations from across the country regarding the new policy. They listed out major issues which needs to be highlighted and given as a recommendation to the government for implementation.
Some recommendations include — retain embarkation points at 21 rather than only nine, private tour operators’ quota be reduced, reserved category ‘A’ where pilgrims above 70 years should be accompanied by a younger companion, adahi (qurbani) to be kept as optional as per existing practice and accommodation to be continued as per existing practice. Speaking about the recommendations, Maheboob Ali Qaisar, Chairman of HCOI, said, “The proposal to reduce the embarkation points should be deferred. We have also added a new point of sending a young person with pilgrims above 70 years old.”
