Vijayawada: Deputy Chief Minister Amjad Basha said that for the first time, 1,813 pilgrims would be sent directly to the Hajj pilgrimage from the embarkation point set up at Vijayawada airport beginning from June 7 to 19 with 155 pilgrims for each day.
At a review meeting held with the officials here on Tuesday, the Deputy CM said that after getting the new embarkation point, tenders were called for airlines to take the pilgrims to Hajj from AP and bring them back and added that each pilgrim has to bear an additional cost of Rs 80,000 in case they board a flight from Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The state government had sanctioned financial assistance of Rs 14.51 crore at the rate of Rs 80,000 for each pilgrim for 1,813 pilgrims to go for Hajj. He thanked the CM for sanctioning financial help for the benefit of Hajj pilgrims.
He said that the Hajj pilgrims would be given accommodation at a madrasa located near Namburu in Guntur district and added that the administration was providing air-conditioned buses to take the pilgrims from the madrasa to the airport.
