Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said that the Hajj pilgrims it will be a must for haj pilgrims to submit a COVID-19 negative report 72 hours before their journey to Saudi Arabia next year.
The ministry for minority affairs had held a meeting with the Haj Committee and other stakeholders and announced that the last date to submit applications for Haj pilgrimage for 2021 is December 10.
Indians going for Hajj pilgrimage who will be allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia will be selected through a lottery in January and in July 2021.
According to a report, this year people between the age group of 18-65 will be allowed to perform the Hajj.
He said, “The applicants can apply online, off-line or through Haj mobile application as well. Given the coronavirus pandemic, we are making it mandatory for all the pilgrims to submit their COVID-19 negative report of the RT-PCR test. The date of testing should be 72 hours before boarding a flight to Saudi Arabia.”
Naqvi also said embarking points for Haj 2021 have been decreased to ten because of the coronavirus pandemic. The ten locations have been decided from the feedback received from Air India and other agencies.
Before, such embarking locations across the country were 21.
He said the ten decided boarding cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cochin, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Srinagar.
Naqvi said applications furnished for Haj 2020 by women in “without mehram ie, male companion category will be valid for Haj 2021 as well.
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The minister said, “Besides, new applications are also being accepted from women who want to perform the Haj 2021 without a mehram.”
Those Muslim women who will be applying in “without mehram” category will be exempted from the lottery system, added Mr Naqvi.