NEW DELHI: The ministry of minority affairs has converted most of its Haj Houses with a capacity for housing over 21,000 persons into quarantine facilities as part of the preparations to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Some Haj Houses like the ones in Bangalore and Ghaziabad are already being used for keeping people in quarantine.There are 16 Haj Houses across states and they provide facilities to pilgrims to stay when they arrive from different parts of the country to embark on Haj every year. Now these buildings have been spruced up as per protocol for quarantine facilities.Dr M A Khan CEO, Haj Committee of India, said that except Mumbai and Hyderabad where the Haj houses also have offices and residences for staff, all other Haj Houses fit the bill in terms of providing isolated quarantine facilities.The decision to convert the Haj Houses into quarantine facilities by the ministry of minority affairs followed the directions from the cabinet secretary of the Union government to various line ministries. In a letter to various ministries earlier last month, among other activities the ministries were also asked to identify facilities for quarantine.Meanwhile, in the backdrop of the pandemic, the government will in the coming weeks also need to take a call on the 2020 Haj as already 1.25 lakh out of the 2.7 lakh applicants have been selected and they have made the requisite payments. More applications would have been approved had the pandemic not happened. But for the pandemic the first flights from India to Saudi Arabia were scheduled to take the pilgrims in June.Given the current circumstances, the government is likely to take a final call on the 2020 Haj around May. The ministry of minority affairs is also awaiting a response from Saudi Arabia. However, the minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi made it clear that if both India and Saudi Arabia decide to suspend the Haj for this year, then, those who have registered for the Haj will be reimbursed the money they have submitted while registering for the pilgrimage and whatever losses happen will be borne by the Haj Committee of India.