JEDDAH, 14 January — Air-India will bring the first batch of 410 Haj pilgrims from Calicut tomorrow - the day the Haj Terminal opens for the annual pilgrimage. Two more flights will arrive the same night from India — from Delhi and Lucknow.
These are among about 70,000 pilgrims of the Central Haj Committee (CHC) who will be flown in by both Saudi Arabian Airlines and A-I, while the rest — around 40,000 — will arrive through private tour operators.
Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad and his wife will receive the Calicut flight AI-3803 at 3.45 p.m. Calicut, Srinagar and Lucknow are the new embarkation points this season. With these, pilgrims will be flown in from a total of 10 points across India. The last groups of pilgrims will be flown in on Feb. 16 - the last date set for air pilgrims by local authorities.
A-I and Saudia are transporting all CHC pilgrims this season. Until last year, India’s national carrier operated Haj charters in arrangement with other international carriers. Saudia will transport 30,500 Indian pilgrims during the season from three embarkation points (Bombay, Delhi and Ahmedabad) as against 20,500 from two points (Bombay and Cochin) last year. While all pilgrims will arrive in Jeddah, about 16,500 (increased from 14,000 last year) will directly travel from Madinah to Delhi and Ahmadabad in the return phase. The remaining 14,000 will fly back from Jeddah to Bombay. A-I will bring the remaining 39,500 pilgrims from the seven other embarkation points (Calicut, Madras, Calcutta, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Srinagar and Lucknow).
The ambassador gave these details at a press conference at the Consulate General of India. Consul General Syed Akbaruddin and Haj Consul Anwar Haleem accompanied him.
A total of 250 flights from 10 departure points will bring the pilgrims this time as against 232 flights from eight embarkation points last year. Calicut has replaced Cochin this time. The last flight with pilgrims in the return phase will depart on March 29.
Detailing the other significant features of this year’s arrangements for Indian pilgrims, Ahmad said that for the first time since the reserved accommodation scheme was started in 1988, all CHC pilgrims would stay in buildings with lifts. "Every building will also, for the first time, have a telephone to enable direct contact in emergencies," he added.
A total of 302 buildings have been hired in three categories within a kilometer from the periphery of the Holy Haram to accommodate about 65,000 pilgrims. The remaining pilgrims had opted for exemption and would stay in Rubats or in arrangements made by their relatives.
In Madinah contracts have been signed with four contractors to provide accommodation for all pilgrims in eight-day cycles. There are no categories of accommodation in Madinah and all pilgrims in the holy city will stay within 750 meters of the periphery of the Prophet’s Mosque. About 32,000 pilgrims will visit Madinah prior to the Haj while the rest will perform the ziarat after the Haj.
The ambassador said the pilgrim movement from the airport in the arrival phase would be considerably faster this year, as they no longer needed to encash banks drafts into Saudi riyals in Jeddah. Saudi riyals are now being made available to pilgrims at their departure points in India.
