No cut in Haj quota this year: SHC

Hyderabad, June 30 : Andhra Pradesh State Haj Committee chairman Syed Khaleeluddin Ahmed on Sunday informed as many as 7,527 pilgrims from the State would go to Haj this year as the External Affairs Minister has decided not to apply the 20 per cent cut in the total number of pilgrims on the selected pilgrims of the Haj Committee.

Addressing the Orientation Training Camp organised by the SHC at Jamia Masjid AC Guards here, Khaleeluddin Ahmed said that the Andhra Pradesh has opted for the second phase of departure of the pilgrims, which would ensure some more seats to the State due to cancellations in the earlier phase. He advised the pilgrims not to carry more luggage during the journey as every commodity was available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This year rate of Riyal has been fixed at Rs 14.98 and accordingly the amount of second installment of Haj amount is being fixed, which will be intimated to the pilgrims very shortly, he said.

SHC Member Moulana Mufti Sadeq Mohiuddin advised the pilgrims to learn the Haj rituals before their departure so that they could perform the Haj without any difficulty.

Haj Committee member Mahmood Hussain Engineer said that the committee would represent to the GMR authorities for waiving UFD charges at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

SHC Executive Officer Abdul Hameed explained about the logistic arrangements. Moulana Khaja Mohiuddin explained the rituals of Haj and Umrah and the procedure to visit the tomb of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in Madeenah. Moulana Mohammad Abdul Malik and MA Rauf Khan Engineer also spoke.

The arrangements for the orientation programme were made under the supervision of AEO Irfan Shareef. INN