Hajj by ship from India to be possible from 2018: Travel costs to be reduced by ‘nearly half’
Hajj by ship from India to be possible from 2018: Travel costs to be reduced by ‘nearly half’
If everything goes as planned, Muslims could travel from Mumbai port to Jeddah by ship to perform the annual pilgrimage as early as next year.
The Hajj season will begin in August, when hundreds and thousands of Muslims will embark on a pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah from India and other countries around the globe. The annual Hajj quota was significantly increased to 1.70 lakh people by the Saudi Arabia government for Indian muslims.
However, there have been concerns related to the subsidy given to Hajj pilgrims by the government on the air fares. As the fear of increased Hajj costs might worry some potential Hajis (a person who has been to Mecca as a pilgrim), a PTI report on Wednesday brings relief.
According to the report, the government has formed a high-level committee to frame the Hajj Policy for 2018, and a major highlight of the plan is to consider restarting the option to send pilgrims from India to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, via sea route. The practice was stopped in 1995 after MV Akbari, the ship used to transport pilgrims, was put out of commission, a source within the Union Minority Affairs Ministry told PTI.
Currently, Hajj pilgrims receive discounted air fares on Air India. By adding a sea travel option, pilgrims can now choose between the two as MoS for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the air services will continue to be available.
If everything goes as planned, Muslims could travel from Mumbai port to Jeddah by ship to perform the annual pilgrimage as early as next year. Taking the sea route will cut down the travel expenses by “nearly half” compared to the airfares, according to a source.
Unlike travelling by ship over two decades ago, the advanced ferries with modern facilities will also reduce the journey time between Mumbai and Jeddah from nearly a week to just 2-3 days. It takes nearly 6 hours to cover the distance from one of the 21 locations in India to Jeddah by air. But the two-three days travel will give pilgrims more time to learn about the rituals of Hajj thoroughly.
According to the source, the ferries are well-equipped to accommodate 4,000 to 5,000 people at a time. The ships leaving from the Port of Mumbai will cover a distance of 2,515 nautical miles (1nm=1.8km), crossing the Arabian Sea and reaching Jeddah via Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.
The Hajj season will begin in August, when hundreds and thousands of Muslims will embark on a pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah from India and other countries around the globe. The annual Hajj quota was significantly increased to 1.70 lakh people by the Saudi Arabia government for Indian muslims.
However, there have been concerns related to the subsidy given to Hajj pilgrims by the government on the air fares. As the fear of increased Hajj costs might worry some potential Hajis (a person who has been to Mecca as a pilgrim), a PTI report on Wednesday brings relief.
According to the report, the government has formed a high-level committee to frame the Hajj Policy for 2018, and a major highlight of the plan is to consider restarting the option to send pilgrims from India to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, via sea route. The practice was stopped in 1995 after MV Akbari, the ship used to transport pilgrims, was put out of commission, a source within the Union Minority Affairs Ministry told PTI.
Currently, Hajj pilgrims receive discounted air fares on Air India. By adding a sea travel option, pilgrims can now choose between the two as MoS for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the air services will continue to be available.
If everything goes as planned, Muslims could travel from Mumbai port to Jeddah by ship to perform the annual pilgrimage as early as next year. Taking the sea route will cut down the travel expenses by “nearly half” compared to the airfares, according to a source.
Unlike travelling by ship over two decades ago, the advanced ferries with modern facilities will also reduce the journey time between Mumbai and Jeddah from nearly a week to just 2-3 days. It takes nearly 6 hours to cover the distance from one of the 21 locations in India to Jeddah by air. But the two-three days travel will give pilgrims more time to learn about the rituals of Hajj thoroughly.
According to the source, the ferries are well-equipped to accommodate 4,000 to 5,000 people at a time. The ships leaving from the Port of Mumbai will cover a distance of 2,515 nautical miles (1nm=1.8km), crossing the Arabian Sea and reaching Jeddah via Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.
Konular
- The Twelve Months of the Islamic Lunar Calendar
- Hajj Requirements/Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia: Hajj/Umrah Pilgrimage
- Umrah packages by H.Mujaddedia hajj travels& tours
- Saudi Arabia to increase Hajj quotas for first time in five year
- Saudi Arabia allocates Indonesia haj quota of 221,000 per year
- Indonesia would welcome bigger haj quota
- Saudi Arabia increases India's annual Haj quota to 1.70 lakh
- Haj quota increases ruled out by Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia approves additional haj quota
- Indonesia: Saudi Arabia agrees to increase Hajj quota
- Indonesia says Saudi Arabia increased its Hajj quota
- Saudi Arabia rolls out 'biggest increase' in India's Haj quota, hikes it by 34,500
- India gets quota of 136,020 pilgrims for Haj
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- Haj quota for Pakistan increased
- Pakistan urges Saudi govt to increase its Hajj quota
- Iraq’s hajj quota to increase by 2,200 next year
- Iran pilgrims to join this year's Hajj: Saudi Arabia
- UZBEKISTAN: Over 160 year wait to go on haj pilgrimage?
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- Uzbekistan to ask Saudi Arabia to increase Umrah quota