LUCKNOW: About 377 pilgrims, desirous of making the Haj pilgrimage from Uttar Pradesh after the pandemic-hit halt of two years, will embark on the first flight to Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Monday morning. A total of 7,500 passengers will be sent from UP for Haj 2022 on 13 flights that will run till June 15.
"The first flight with Haj pilgrims will take off at 8 am on Monday. This will carry about 284 passengers. The second flight on the day carrying the remaining 93 passengers will also fly out on Monday at 11 am," said UP state haj committee secretary SP Tiwari.
With the central government’s cancellation of the Haj subsidy, there is also a 200% increase in Haj fee that pilgrims have had to shell out.
As against the sum of around Rs 2.36 lakh to 2.73 lakh depending on the embarkation point of Lucknow and Varanasi respectively in 2018, this year pilgrims have had to pay around Rs 4 lakh for securing a seat on the pilgrimage from UP.
"Total 7,500 people will be sent from UP, of which 4,500 will embark from Lucknow. The remaining pilgrims from the western and other parts of UP closer to Delhi will embark from the capital," Tiwari added.
Since the Saudi Arabian (SA) government has made double doses of the Covid vaccine mandatory for pilgrims and an RT-PCR negative report not older than 72 hours has to be presented on boarding, the Hajjis have been sheltered in the Maulana Ali Miyan Memorial Haj House in Lucknow.
"We have also set up a 12-bed hospital with doctors on duty to cover vaccination for meningitis, if any pilgrim has not had the shot already. These are SA requirements," he added.
