Hyderabad, May 13 -- Several Indian Haj pilgrims have raised concerns over the performance of the Haj Suvidha Smartwatch, citing battery, charging and connectivity issues during the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

The GPS-enabled smartwatch was introduced by the Haj Committee of India (HCoI) as part of a digital safety initiative for Haj pilgrims. More than 1.2 lakh Indian pilgrims received the devices before departure.

Many pilgrims said they had spent over Rs 4 lakh, including Qurbani charges, for the Haj journey and expected the smartwatch service to function properly.

The smartwatch was introduced to assist pilgrims with emergency support, location tracking and health monitoring during the pilgrimage.

Pilgrims report battery and charg...