Kerala Haj panel demands smaller aircraft
The first Haj flight from Kerala is in the first week of August.
Malappuram: The Kerala State Haj Committee has asked the Union government to review its "discriminatory approach" keeping Calicut International Airport off the Haj embarkation points.
“The committee would send a letter to Union civil aviation minister and Haj Committee of India on Monday seeking approval for 200-300 seat aircraft (Code D) for Haj services from Kerala to reinstate the embarkation point at Karipur,” its chairman Thodiyoor Kunhi Muhammed Musliyar said.
"The Centre’s refusal of mid-range aircraft from the state is baseless, as it had no problem with the north Indian airports which doesn’t come on par with Karipur airport in advanced technical and security aspects."
The tender issued by the Union ministry on Friday states Kerala’s only Haj embarkation point would be Kochi and invited quotations for services using B-747 aircraft (Category E, banned in Karipur), drawing massive flak.
The tender has approved services using Code D aircraft at Aurangabad, Ranchi and Varanasi airports which fall behind Karipur on runway length and other technical specifications.
Lucknow and Mangalore are two airports which come under the same 4 D category as Karipur, but they have permission to operate Code D aircraft for Haj services. The first Haj flight from Kerala is in the first week of August.
Protesting the Centre's decision to not to consider Karipur as an embarkation point, Kozhikode MP M.K. Raghavan shot off an emergency messages to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju. “If the Government does not revoke the direction considering the number of pilgrims, all the preparations made at the Haj House, spending crores of rupees, would be wasted," wrote the MP.