NEW DELHI, Feb 4: India and Saudi Arabia have signed Haj agreement for this years pilgrimage. The agreement was inked after a high-level meeting between Union Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh and Saudi Minister for Haj Bandar Ibn Muhammad Hajjar in Jeddah yesterday. The Haj quota for India for the year would be 1,36,020 and 1,00,020 pilgrims would come through Haj Committee of India, while the remaining 36,000 would come through Private Tour Operators.
The two ministers discussed various Haj-related issues including need to make cooling system effective in Mina, better transport facilities for pilgrims to move between Jeddah, Mecca and Madina, catering services to pilgrims and standardisation of baggage.
During the interaction with the Haj Minister, General Singh expressed deep condolences on sad demise of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah and expressed best wishes for King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and fondly recalled the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, then Crown Prince, in Brisbane, Australia during the G-20 summit on November 16, 2014.
The Indian delegation in the talks included Ambassador of India Hamid Ali Rao, Chairman Haj Committee of India Qaisar Shamim, Joint Secretary (Haj), Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Ajit Gupte, Consul General of India B S Mubarak, CEO Haj Committee of India Ataur Rahman, Consul Haj Noor Rahman Sheikh and representatives from Ministry of Civil Aviation. (AGENCIES)
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