11 Sep :The Government has today approved that the number of Haj pilgrims going through the Haj Committee of India in 2008 will be increased to 1,23,211. This is an increase over the 1,10,000 pilgrims who went in 2007.
The Government has also approved introduction of Indore as an additional embarkation point for this year’s Haj Operations. The operations will be under Hub & Spoke arrangement over either Mumbai or Nagpur.
The subsidized air fare to be charged per pilgrim for the round trip to Jeddah/Madina will continue to be Rs.12000. It has been the same fare since 1994.
The total cost of Haj Operations in 2008 is estimated to be around Rs.847 crores. With the pilgrims fare remaining at Rs.12,000, an amount of Rs.147 crores will be received from the pilgrims. The subsidy will be around Rs.700 crores for Haj 2008 operations.