Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar holds talks with V.K. Singh, Indian minister of state for foreign affairs, in Jeddah on Tuesday. (SPA)

A delegation led by Gen. V.K. Singh, minister of state for external affairs, visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for signing the annual agreement for Haj 2015 (1436H).

During his visit, he met Minister of Haj Bandar Hajjar in Jeddah and discussed issues pertaining to arrangements for Haj 2015.

Following the discussion, the Haj agreement between India and Saudi Arabia was signed.

The Haj quota for India for 2015 is 136,020 pilgrims. Of them, 100,020 pilgrims will come through Haj Committee of India (HCI) and the remaining 36,000 through private tour operators.

The Indian delegation included Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao, HCI Chairman Qaisar Shamim, Ajit Gupte, joint secretary (Haj), Ministry of External Affairs, Consul General B.S. Mubarak, HCI CEO Ataur Rahman, Consul Haj Noor Rahman Sheikh, and representatives from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

During the interaction with the Haj minister, Gen. Singh expressed deep condolences on the demise of King Abdullah and expressed best wishes for Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, and recalled the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and King Salman in Brisbane (Australia) on Nov. 16, 2014.

The two ministers discussed various other Haj-related issues, including the need to make cooling system effective in Mina, better bus facilities for pilgrims to move between Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah, catering services to pilgrims and standardization of baggage.

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