Srinagar: The Government of India has forwarded a proposal to the Hajj Ministry of Saudi Arabia suggesting to consider the Haj aspirants who have attained the age of 65 years.
The suggestions came to fore in a meeting of the Central Haj Committee of India held in Mumbai.
Sources privy to the meeting said that in the meeting, members suggested that in 2020, some Haj aspirants who had applied for Haj died and others couldn’t take off the journey as pandemic scuttled the Haj for 2020 and 2021.
“We deliberated on the issue threadbare and suggestions came to fore that the Haj aspirants who have attained the age of 65 years should be considered for the Haj 2022,” member of the Central Haj Committee of India, Er Aijaz Hussain said over phone from Mumbai.
He said that over 55000 people will perform Haj in year 2022 from various parts of India and from J&K 5196 Haj aspirants will perform the sacred journey.
“We will see if the Saudi government agrees to accommodate the people having attained the age of 65 years,” Er Aijaz said. From J&K alone, some 10,000 applications were received by the Haj committee.
There will be draws now to select the aspirants, which is expected in a few days from now.
Pertinently, Haj Ministry of India recently announced a Haj quota for countries. This year, one million people will perform Haj. “We are hopeful that the Saudi government will accommodate the Haj aspirants having attained the age of 65 years,” he said.
Interestingly, Saudi government recently announced that Haj aspirants up to the age of 64 years are entitled for Haj 2022 (KNO)