Assam Government To Provide Maximum Facilities To Hajis: Nekibur Zaman

GUWAHATI: The North East Haj Pilgrims Reception Committee (NEHPRC) on Saturday praised the Sarbananda Sonowal government for going the ‘extra mile’ to provide all facilities to Muslim pilgrims from the region for a hassle-free journey to Mecca to perform their annual pilgrimage.

Addressing a press conference at Haji Musafir Khana here on Saturday, advocate Nekibur Zaman, working chairperson of the NEHPRC said the kind of support and facilities being provided to haj pilgrims by the present regime in Dispur was unprecedented.

“The State Government has entrusted its various senior officials with different responsibilities for the haj pilgrims. A senior bureaucrat will closely coordinate with the Air India for timely departure of flights to Jeddah. Each Air India’s flight will ferry 150 pilgrims everyday from July 4. The government has also made it clear that any official found lacking in discharging his responsibility, will be held accountable,” Zaman said.

Altogether 3,594 pilgrims from the north-eastern region, including 3,515 from Assam, will go to Mecca this year. Of the total pilgrims, 2,432 are men and 1,162 are women. The highest number of 582 pilgrims is from Cachar district, followed by 519 from Karimganj and 295 pilgrims from Hailakandi district. The pilgrims will leave for Mecca from Guwahati in batches from July 4 to 18. While 2,958 pilgrims will take their flights from Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Borjhar; 636 will leave from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata.

Hajis from the North East will start returning from Jeddah to Guwahati on August 17.

Under the NCNTZ category, each pilgrim from North East will have to incur an expenditure of Rs 3,22,600 during the entire pilgrimage in Mecca including the to-and-fro flight journeys. Pilgrims will have to bear Rs 2,85,550 under the AZIZIYA category for the same.

Zaman said the government will also bear the entire cost of sending 18 Khadim-ul-Hujjaj to Mecca to offer all logistic support and cooperation pilgrims of NE during their pilgrimage.

Khadim-ul-Hujjaj will help Consulate General of India, Jeddah (CGI) in looking after the welfare of pilgrims, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The health camps for all pilgrims have already been conducted in different districts. Pilgrims will start assembling in the city from July 2. The meeting of farewell to hajis will be organized at Haji Musafir Khana here on July 3. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will be the chief guest of the meeting.

Also Read: National Registration of Citizenship (NRC) comes in way of Haj pilgrims