The Ministry of Minority Affairs is only exploring an idea on the possibilities for the revival of Haj Pilgrimage through ships as an additional option for the Indian Haj Pilgrims, with the Ministry of Shipping. Ministry of Shipping has informed that the ticketing charges will be less than airline charges if vessels with passenger capacity of 1100 are used. Further, other logistic arrangements including assembling of pilgrims and travelling time would also need to be considered. As advised by the M/o Shipping, the M/o External Affairs have been consulted. It is still on exploratory stage and nothing has been fixed up. 

This information was given by Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Minister of State (IC) for Minority Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, today. 
 

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