Haj pilgrimage: Deposit of third installment by April 27

 Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Joint State Haj Committee, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, etc., has appealed to applicants for Haj pilgrimage in 2024 to deposit their third installment by April 27, 2024.

Each of the applicants deposited Rs 81,800 in the first installment and Rs 1,70,000 in the second installment. The applicants, whose embarkation point is Guwahati, will have to deposit Rs 1,58,000 as the third installment. However, the applicants, whose embarkation point is Kolkata, will have to deposit Rs 1,06,900 each as the third installment. The pilgrims, who had expressed their willingness for qurbani through the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in their application forms, will have to deposit an additional amount of Rs 15,180 each.

According to the notification issued, the departure of flights for Haj from Guwahati is likely to start on May 9, 2024.

The applicants and officials to be involved in the pilgrimage have been undertaking training and orientation programmes at the district level. 

A total of 3,905 people have applied to the Joint State Haj Committee (JSHC) to participate in this year’s Haj pilgrimage.

The Joint State Haj Committee arranges the Haj pilgrimage for Muslims in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Sikkim in the northeast of India. Manipur and Tripura have their own state Haj committees.

In 2023, a total of 6002 pilgrims went on the Haj pilgrimage under the aegis of the Joint State Haj Committee, which was the highest number of all time as restrictions imposed in 2022 were lifted.

It should be mentioned here that the restrictions in 2022 led to fewer people, while not a single pilgrim was able to undertake the holy pilgrimage due to the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

3,544 pilgrims were bound for Mecca in 2022, as some restrictions were in place, mainly related to the age of the pilgrim.

As conveyed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, and as per the Annual Bilateral Haj Agreement for Haj 2024 between India and Saudi Arabia, a quota of 1,40,020 seats for the Haj Committee of India has been allocated. The quota for the Joint State Haj Committee is 8840, whereas only 3,905 applications have been received within the extended deadline for online applications of January 15, 2024.

Of the 3,905 applicants, 104 are aged above 70 years, whereas 29 are ladies without Mehram (escort). A total of 1,74,117 applications were received by the Haj Committee of India on the all-India level.

From Manipur, which is outside the purview of the JSHC, a total of 554 Muslims applied for Haj 2024, against the allotted quota of 194. Against a quota of 256 for Tripura, a total of 110 applications were received.

 Also Read: Assam: Government Launches Haj Suvidha App to Enhance Pilgrimage Experience (sentinelassam.com)

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