The Indian Consulate submitted a formal letter to the Ministry of Haj for a total of 180,000 pilgrims. The Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar agreed to forward the letter to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for consideration. No decision has been made.
The request was made during the visit of Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed, who spoke to journalists after his meeting with Hajjar at the Indian Consulate yesterday. Ahamed arrived in Jeddah for signing an annual Haj agreement with Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom stressed the need to convey to pilgrims not to bring food onboard any Haj flight. The first Haj flight is expected on Sept. 7, and the Haj period will span Oct. 14-18. The last Haj flight will leave on Nov. 20.
This year, the metro service will be available to all Indian pilgrims.
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Updated
Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Saudi Arabia rejected a request from India to be allotted 180,000 Haj pilgrims.