The government on Wednesday announced an increase in the Haj quota from 72,000 to 82,000 for the upcoming pilgrimage and also decided to do away with the requirement of pilgrims submitting affidavits to show they are not income tax payees to avail of the subsidy.
"Around 45,000 pilgrims will perform Haj through private tour operators," External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh said at the Annual Haj Conference in New Delhi.
Observing that this would raise the total number of pilgrims from India to an "all time high" of 1.27 lakh, he also announced the addition of new embarkation points at Patna, Aurangabad and Guwahati taking the number of places from where the pilgrims can fly to Saudi Arabia to fifteen.
Another important milestone in the Haj arrangements this time is the addition of Medina as a destination for direct flights for Indian pilgrims.
"The pilgrims can now land at Medina, instead of Jeddah. This would not only facilitate their movement to the holy places but also reduce costs considerably," he said.
He said Saudi Arabia and the Civil Aviation Ministry concluded a bilateral agreement earlier this month so that the two national carriers -- Saudi Airlines and Air-India -- could jointly fly all 82,000 Hajis to that country and back.
Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed, who is in-charge of the Haj operations, said arrangements have been made to provide accommodation to all Indian Hajis.