More than 594,000 pilgrims apply to perform Haj

Islamabad: The e-portal of the Saudi Ministry of Haj and Umrah has, since it was launched mid Ramadan (May 30), received more than 594,000 applications from citizens and legal expatriates to perform Haj this year.

According to the ministry’s sources, only two hours after the e-portal to reserve the seats of the facilitated and low-cost Haj was launched on Saturday, all the 45,000 seats for the two categories of the Haj have been taken, Arab news reported.

They said as many as 27,000 domestic pilgrims have opted for the general Haj program, which is the most costly of the three categories of the Haj services.

They said all the places assigned for the general Haj programme were booked within four hours of the start of the registration for this type of pilgrimage, Saudi gazette reported. The ministry said applications to confirm seats for the domestic pilgrimage would continue to be received until Zil Haijja 7 (Aug,18).

"The Haj fees should be paid within 48 hours after the reservation has been confirmed," it added. The ministry, however, explained that the linkage for registration of the domestic pilgrims does not work from outside but the Haj permits could be printed outside the Kingdom if all the registration procedures were completed inside.

The sources said the number of the applications made by the domestic pilgrims for the three categories of the services were 107,254 for the general Haj, 169,884 for the facilitated and 317,646 for the low-cost Haj.

The sources said Riyadh, with 157,764 applications topped all the towns and cities in the number of the domestic pilgrims wishing to perform Haj this year followed by Jeddah, which has 154,720 applications, Makkah 93,568, Dammam 37,610 and Madinah 31,241.