Haj pilgrims depart from Vijayawada airport

VIJAYAWADA: Haj pilgrims from Vijayawada Airport departed for Mecca, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The state government has made arrangements for the travel from Vijayawada Airport embarkation point. Earlier, Haj pilgrims of AP used to travel from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and other airports. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Minorities Welfare department, Union government extended cooperation to the Government of Andhra Pradesh to travel from Vijayawada. The Haj pilgrims were provided accommodation at Madarsa near Namburu of Guntur district and AC buses were arranged to travel from Guntur to Gannavaram Airport.

The Haj committee chairman, members, representatives of Muslim organizations, clerics, and others accorded a grand farewell to the first batch of 170 pilgrims. Minorities Welfare Minister Amzath Basha said 1982 Haj pilgrims will travel from Vijayawada from June 7 to 19 and the first batch of pilgrims departed on Wednesday.