Covid-19 impacts Hajj pilgrimage, only 3729 applications in Uttar Pradesh so far - Details here

The Covid-19 pandemic has badly affected the Hajj pilgrimage as only 3729 people have applied from Uttar Pradesh to travel in 2021 to Saudi Arabia for the holy pilgrimage. In 2020, around 29000 people had submitted their applications till this date.

The window for online and offline applications opened on November 7 and the last date for depositing the form is December 10.

Only 162 applications have been received from Prayagraj, 203 from Lucknow and 165 from Moradabad so far.

Not even a single woman has applied under the category of 'without mehram' (only women group).

Under the category, women can apply in the groups of three. The Haj Committee of India has reserved 500 seats for such women.

It is learnt that no woman has applied under the category of 'without mehram' (only women group). Under this category, women can apply in the groups of three. A total of 500 seats are reserved by the Hajj Committee for such women.

Here's how to apply for Hajj pilgrimage 

* This time only people between 18 to 65 years will be allowed to perform Haj.
* The application form will be available from November 7.
* The last date for submission of the form is 10 December
* Women going to Haj without a male relative can apply by making a group of only 3-3 instead of four women
* 500 seats have been reserved for these women

If application forms are submitted more than quota, then in January 2021, lottery will be done to select passengers.

Cost of Hajj pilgrim has increased

* The selected Haj pilgrims via the lottery will have to deposit Rs 1.5 lakhs of the first installment instead of Rs 81 thousand rupees as earlier.
* The final installment will have to be submitted by March 1, 2021. 
* The Hajj Committee has not yet announced the total Hajj expenditure
* The departure for Saudi Arabia of Haj pilgrims will start from June 26 and will go on last flight on July 31, 2021.

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Flights for Hajj from these cities 

Flights for Hajj will be available from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Srinagar. This time, there will no flight from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi.