In a major development, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has confirmed that honouring the decision of the Saudi Arabia Government because of serious challenges of Covid-19 pandemic and keeping in mind the health and well-being of the people, it has been decided that Muslims from India will not go there to perform Hajj.
Hajj Money Refund 2020
– Talking about the Haj Money Refund 2020, Naqvi said that 2.13 lakh applications had been received for Hajj 2020.
– The process has been started on Tuesday to immediately refund full amount of money deposited by the applicants without any deduction.
– The money will be refunded through online DBT mode into bank accounts of the applicants.
Elaborating about the decision, Naqvi said that he received a phone call from Hajj and Umrah Minister of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dr. Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten on Monday and the Saudi Arabia Minister suggested not to send Hajj pilgrims from India to Hajj for this year (1441 H/ 2020 AD) due to Coronavirus. He said they discussed the matter at length and agreed that the entire world is facing challenges of the pandemic and Saudi Arabia has also been affected by the pandemic.
The Minister informed that this year, more than 2300 women had applied to perform Haj without Mehram. These women will be allowed to go to Hajj 2021 on the basis of their application for Hajj 2020 only. Besides, women who file new application, will also be allowed to go to Hajj next year.
Further, Naqvi said that a total of 2 lakh Indian Muslims had performed Hajj in 2019. These pilgrims included 50 per cent women. A total of 3,040 women have performed Hajj after the Government ensured Muslim women can perform Hajj without Mehram (male companion) in 2018. Z Business
