A ‘mini Airport’ is being set up at the Haj House here to process the journey of Haj pilgrims from Sunday. The ground floor of the 11-storeyed Haj House has been security sensitised for the purpose. Arrangements have been made for baggage screening, immigration check, customs and foreign exchange – all under one roof. Pilgrims have just to check in here and they would be transported to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport for their onward journey.
Officials of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), CISF, GMR, Jet Airways, Saudi Airlines and Traffic Police visited the Haj House on Thursday morning to inspect the arrangements being made.
A total of 19 different departments are coordinating for the safe and hassle free travel of the pilgrims. P.U. Mathai, deputy commissioner, BCAS, Praveen Bhatt, CISF commander and others reviewed the arrangements with Prof. S.A. Shukoor, special officer, Telangana Haj Committee.
Haj Committee officials along with the Deputy Chief Minister, Mohammed Mahmood Ali, will visit the Rajiv Gandhi Airport on Friday to inspect the arrangements made at the Haj terminal for the convenience of the pilgrims. Hectic activity was seen at the Haj House on Thursday with the Haj camp opening tomorrow, two days before the commencement of Haj flights. The first batch of pilgrims are set to arrive here on Friday.
A total of 6298 pilgrims will undertake the consecrated journey for the Haj beginning in October. Of them 5200 are from Telangana and 1098 from Andhra Pradesh. This apart about 1000 pilgrims from Bidar, Raichur, Gulbarga and Yadgir districts of neighbouring Karnataka and Udgir (Maharashtra) will be flying from Hyderabad embarkation point while pilgrims from Chittoor and Anantapur will go from Bangalore embarkation point.
A total of 18 chartered Saudi Airline flights will transport pilgrims from Hyderabad to Jeddah from September 14 to 28.
In the first ten flights pilgrims from Telangana will depart while their AP counterparts will go in the next five flights. Two flights are kept for Karnataka pilgrims and the last one will be a mixed flight, said Prof. Shukoor.
Deputy Chief Minister will flag off the first batch of pilgrims at Haj House on Sunday. Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is expected to flag off the second batch on September 15. Haj Committee officials plan to invite the AP Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, when pilgrims from that State depart.
