Haj Committee of India hikes insurance for Haj pilgrims
It would cover loss due to theft, hospitalisation, illness, injury or death due to terrorism, among others.
Hyderabad: Chaudhary Mehaboob Ali Kaiser, chairman of the Haj Committee of India, on Saturday said the insurance for each Haj pilgrim had been increased from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh from 2016.
He said every pilgrim leaving through the state Haj committees across the country would be insured by the Haj Committee of India under a comprehensive insurance policy. It would cover loss due to theft, hospitalisation, illness, injury or death due to terrorism, among others.
Briefing media persons at Haj House here, he said as many as one lakh pilgrims from the country would travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Haj 2016 through the Haj committees and 36,000 through private tour operators.
He said that the Haj committee proposed to constitute a regulatory authority to monitor pilgrims going through private operators.
He said the first flight for Haj 2016 had left from Varanasi on August 4; the last flight would leave on August 28 from Hyderabad and Bengaluru.