By IANS
New Delhi : India will sign a Haj agreement with Saudi Arabia on Thursday even as it is striving to retain last year's ad hoc quota of 10,000 additional pilgrims, Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed said here Tuesday.
Ahamed leaves for Jeddah Wednesday to hold discussions with the Saudi Arabian authorities ahead of signing the agreement.
"My endeavour is to get the Saudi Arabian authorities to agree to continue the ad hoc increase of 10,000 pilgrims this year too," he told reporters here.
Last year, India had sent 157,000 pilgrims to perform Haj.
To rein in the black sheep among private tour operators, the Central Haj Committee had directed all the state committees to "strictly adhere to the instructions given to them" as far selection of the pilgrims was concerned.
"Anyone who has travelled in the government quota of Haj pilgrims (those who had availed government subsidy) should not be given Haj allotment before five years," Ahamed said.
He also warned that no pilgrims would get any "preferential treatment" by paying extra amount or charges to any institution or individual.
In order to avoid confusion over the accommodation, pilgrims would be informed in advance about the type of accommodation they would be getting near the pilgrim centre.
The type of accommodation is being categorised according to the distance from the Haram eh-Sharif (the noble sanctuary). The accommodation facilities just 700 metres away from the Haram eh Shariff are in A category and will cost 2,700 Riyal, the B category – 701-1,000 metres away will cost 2,200 Riyal, C – 1,001-1,300 metres away at 1,600 Riyal and D – 1,301-1,600 metres away at 1,350 Riyal.
"The Saudi Arabian authorities had clarified that if anyone fails to get the accommodation they have paid for, they would be compensated," Ahamed said.
Haj Committee of India would be taking applications for the pilgrim from June 1 onwards.
This will be Ahamed's first official programme since recovering from a leg fracture that he sustained during his last trip to Bahrain in early April.
[photo : Maher Steitieh]