Haj Committee 2010

Latest News Update About Haj Committee 2010:The first formal meeting of the Haj committee was held in 1927 in Bombay, headed by the then Commissioner of Police Mr. D. Healy. Till the year 1994 sea route was the major way of traveling to Mecca, starting from Mumbai. With the increase in air transport in the year 1995 sea route was completetly replaced by air route. Further embarkment points were added a presently includes Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkatta, Bangalore, Calicut, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Srinagar, Nagpur, Patna, Jaipur, Guwahati and Aurangabad.
5,576 from out of 16,588 aspirants from the state were selected for Haj pilgrimage through lottery system by the state Haj Committee on Monday May 24, 2010.
The process was initiated by home minister, Dr V S Acharya and Wakf and minority welfare minister, Prof Mumtaz Ali Khan, at a programme organized in the banquet hall of the Vidhan Soudha here, in the presence of religious leaders. The number of Haj pilgrims for each state is decided on the basis of the quota allotted by the Central Haj Committee. This quota was again distributed among the districts, based on the district-wise population of Muslims.
All the applicants from Koppal, Yadagiri and Haveri districts got chosen, as the number of applications received from them was less than the quotas allotted to them.
The committee has also chosen 279 persons additionally, as a possible replacement for those applicants who may not take the pilgrimage at the last minute. 234 applicants, who have been making applications since the last three years, were chosen directly. Haj Committee president, Mohammed Ghouse Basha Ashrafi, said that all the chosen pilgrims should pay Rs 30,700 to the Haj Committee by July 6 and also submit their international passports before August 31.

The Divisional Commissioner asked the Haj Committee to make special transport arrangements for Haj pilgrims from different parts of the State to Srinagar Airport so that they will not face any difficulty.
Samoon also directed State Bank Authorities to activate their all branches so that the Haj pilgrims are able to deposit their money at the earliest.
The Divisional Commissioner also said that in case curfew restrictions stand imposed in any area, the Passport or any Haj paper should be treated as curfew pass for which the concerned officer have already been issued necessary directions.

The Union Cabinet has given its approval to various issues concerning the Haj 2010 operations. This year approximately 1,70,000 pilgrims from India will be going for Haj. Out of these 1,25,000 pilgrims will go through Haj Committee of India. The number of pilgrims who could perform Haj during a particular year is decided by the Saudi Arabian Government.

Air travel arrangements for these 1,25,000 pilgrims will be made by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. These pilgrims will be carried from 21 embarkation points through chartered flights. Bhopal and Goa have been added as new embarkation points this year.

This year each pilgrim going on Haj through Haj Committee of India will pay Rs.16,000/-( plus airport charges) as air fare and the balance air fare (cost of operations) will be borne by the Government.

This year most of the pilgrims will be carried by Saudi Arabian Airlines, National Private Air Services Company Limited (NAS) and Al-Wafeer Air, which have been selected through a sealed tender process. Air India will coordinate the operations and provide support on cost basis, wherever required.Read More.