Abid Bashir
Srinagar, Apr 27: The Government of India has mooted a proposal that has been forwarded to the Hajj Ministry of Saudi Arabia suggesting to consider the Hajj aspirants who have attained the age of 65 years.
The suggestions came to fore in a meeting of Central Hajj Committee of India held in Mumbai. Sources privy to the meeting said that in the meeting, members suggested that in year 2020, some Hajj aspirants who had applied for Hajj died and others couldn’t take off the journey as pandemic scuttled the Hajj for 2020 and 2021.
“We deliberated on the issue threadbare and suggestions came to fore that the Hajj aspirants who have attained the age of 65 years should be considered for the Hajj 2022,” member of the Central Hajj Committee of India, Er Aijaz Hussain said, over phone from Mumbai.
He said that over 55000 people will perform Hajj in year 2022 from various parts of India and from J&K 5196 Hajj aspirants will perform the sacred journey. “We will see if 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 Hajj committee. There will be draws now to select the aspirants, which is expected in a few days from now.
Pertinently, Hajj Ministry of India recently announced Hajj quota for countries. This year, one million people will perform Hajj. “We are hopeful that the Saudi government will accommodate the Hajj aspirants having attained the age of 65 years,” he said.
Interestingly, Saudi government recently announced that Hajj aspirants up to the age of 64 years are entitled for Hajj 2022.
