Uttar Pradesh State Haj Committee has decided to seek an increased Haj quota from the Central Haj Committee for the upcoming pilgrimage season.

The State Haj Committee has received over 63,141 applications so far.

Speaking on this, State Committee Secretary, M A A Khan said: "Of these, 27,378 were selected through lottery as per the quota allocated by the central committee, whereas 548 pilgrims have been kept in the waiting list."

Khan also informed that flights for the Haj pilgrims will be available from three places: Lucknow, Delhi and Varanasi.

"While first flight from Delhi and Lucknow will take off on October 20, flight from Varanasi will leave on November 3," added Khan.

Notably, 123,000 Indian Muslims performed Haj last year.

The government of Saudi Arabia has allowed 160,000 Indian Muslims to visit Haj this year.

Haj is regarded as one of the five pillars of Islam.