Vijayawada: AP Haj pilgrims can stay at Telangana Haj House

Vijayawada: Minorities Welfare Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Amjad Basha said that Haj pilgrims of Andhra Pradesh can stay at the Haj House in Hyderabad and avail the services because the relations between the two States had improved.

He said during the last few years, Andhra Pradesh Haj pilgrims faced some problems at the Haj house located in Hyderabad due to the political differences between the two States. Minister Amjad Basha participated in an awareness programme organised for Haj pilgrims at the Sub-Collector's conference hall here on Wednesday.

Addressing the gathering, he said the Telangana government was also not collecting service charges from Haj pilgrims of Andhra Pradesh. He said the online flight booking confirmation will be useful to Haj pilgrims because they can get information about the flight ticket booking within 10 hours. He said the pilgrims earlier had to wait two days for the confirmation of tickets in the offline system. He said the government is planning to get land in Gannavaram area for construction of Haj House. He felt the Haj House built under the TDP rule in Kadapa district was of no use to the pilgrims of the State. Telangana Haj Committee chairman Masivulla Khan said the Andhra Pradesh Haj pilgrims can stay at the Haj House in Hyderabad and avail the facilities available there. He has suggested to the Haj pilgrims not to take the luggage or packets of other unknown people and reject the requests during the return journey to India after performing the Haj.

He said the Telangana Haj House will accord warm welcome to the Haj pilgrims of AP and tendered apology for the inconvenience caused to the Haj pilgrims of AP in the Haj House in Hyderabad. He said all Haj pilgrims will be treated equally without bias between AP and Telangana. AP State Haj Committee executive officer Tajuddin Arif presided over the event. Due to lack of Haj House and boarding facility from Gannavaram Airport in AP, the AP Haj pilgrims stay for some days at Telangana Haj house, which was built in the combined State of AP. After bifurcation of the State, the Telangana Haj House is solely used by Telangana pilgrims.