Haj season kicks off with first group of Indian pilgrims from Hyderabad

The first flight departed from Hyderabad carrying more than 260 pilgrims and soon after the second flight from Lucknow also arrived with over 280 pilgrims

Dubai: This year’s Haj season has formally begun with the arrival of the first batch of Indian Haj pilgrims at the holy city of Madinah on Tuesday. The first chartered flight carrying Indian pilgrims from Hyderabad for the upcoming Haj landed at the Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah.

The first flight departed from Hyderabad carrying more than 260 pilgrims and soon after the second flight from Lucknow also arrived with over 280 pilgrims.

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Indian Ambassador Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan, Consul General Fahad Khan Suri and Haj Consul Mohammed Jalil received the pilgrims on arrival at the airport. The incoming flights from India would continue till a month.

“I simply can’t describe my joy over landing in Prophet’s City Madinah before moving to Makkah for Haj,” said Ahmed Shamria, a pilgrim who arrived from Hyderabad.

This year a total of 12,000 Haj pilgrims including 8872 from Telangana would depart from Hyderabad for the Haj, while the remaining pilgrims are from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and other States.

Necessary arrangements have been put in place to provide maximum comfort to the pilgrims. The embassy and the consulate have deployed sufficient manpower for the smooth movement of the pilgrims and their baggage to their respective buildings.

A help desk is functioning round-the-clock at Madinah airport to assist Indian pilgrims.