JEDDAH, 23 November 2006 — The first groups of Indian pilgrims arrived at the Jeddah Haj Terminal and Madinah airport yesterday. Indian Ambassador M.O.H. Farook received the pilgrims at the Haj Terminal yesterday evening.
“My prayers are answered,” said Mukhtar Ahmad Reshi of Srinagar on arrival at the terminal. “I’ve been nurturing the ambition of performing Haj for a long time and only now I’ve succeeded,” he said.
“All 215 pilgrims who arrived from Srinagar are in good health,” Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan, consul (Haj) said.
Five other flights from India — three from New Delhi and one each from Nagpur and Lucknow — arrived with a total of 1,505 pilgrims at Madinah airport.
Pilgrims arriving in Madinah were received by Consul General Ausaf Sayeed. He was joined by Khairuddin Bassrawi, board member, National Adilla Establishment, Madinah, and Irshad Ahmed, consul (education). The first flight arriving in Madinah was delayed by nearly two hours.
All the pilgrims to arrive in Madinah will be accommodated in the Taiba building, overlooking the Prophet’s Mosque.
“Pilgrims are all upbeat and in good health. Many old and infirm among them are enthusiastic about performing the pilgrimage,” the consul general told Arab News from Madinah.
Six flights are due to arrive today from New Delhi, Lucknow, Nagpur and Bangalore, bringing in around the same number of pilgrims as yesterday.
Air-India is handling Haj flights from Calcutta, Nagpur, Jaipur, Srinagar and Calicut, while Saudi Arabian Airlines is operating services from Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Madras, New Delhi, Lucknow and Mumbai.
Some 157,000 Indian pilgrims are expected to perform the pilgrimage this year as against 147,000 last year. This year’s pilgrims include 107,000 coming through the Haj Committee of India and 47,000 others through private tour operators. This will be the largest number of Haj pilgrims ever to arrive from India making it second to Indonesia. “All arrangements are in place in both Makkah and Madinah,” the consul general said.
As of Tuesday, the Indian Haj Mission acquired over 1,03,000 accommodation units in Makkah. The mission is actively hiring accommodation in Makkah to cater to the increased requirement following the rise in the Haj quota for India by 10,000.
The ambassador and the consul general met South Asian Pilgrims’ Establishment Chairman Adnan Khatib in his office last week and discussed the arrangements for Haj.
The chairman had a word of praise for the Indian mission for its coordination, and acknowledged that the Indian side excelled in extending cooperation on the crowd control in the Jamrat (stone throwing) area.
