Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Haj camp concludes

Hyderabad: The State Haj Committee incurred heavy expenditure this year on despatch of Haj pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh. This is because of the Haj camp stretching for 27 days as against 13 days last year.

The expenditure on food for the pilgrims alone shot up to Rs. 20 lakh against Rs. 8 lakh last year.

The other expenses included Rs. 5.12 lakh on hiring RTC buses for transporting the pilgrims from Haj House to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad besides Rs. 2.64 lakh on transport of their luggage.

“All the expenditure is met with State government grants and not a single paisa was collected from the pilgrims,” said Minorities Welfare Minister Mohd. Ali Shabbir.

Speaking to presspersons on conclusion of the Haj camp on Sunday, he said so far 7720 pilgrims had reached Saudi Arabia through 30 flights. Of this, 22 flights were operated by Saudi Airlines and 8 by Air India.

This time 675 pilgrims of Karnataka also went from Hyderabad embarkation point. Following representation from Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekahara Reddy, and himself, the State got an additional quota of 985. However, 288 pilgrims did not report while 155 cancelled their journey for various reasons.

The main reason for the expenditure shooting up was selection of large number of pilgrims from districts this year.

This necessitated making arrangement for their food here.

The delay in receipt of passports also led to their prolonged stay in Hyderabad adding to the food bill going up, Mr. Shabbir said.

He said one pilgrim of Kadapa had died at Madina due to ill health.

All other pilgrims from the State were safe.

There were complaints of second category pilgrims getting accommodation at far-off places in Mecca.

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