NEW DELHI: Delhi and Mumbai are becoming the favoured transit points for Haj pilgrims since the scrapping of Haj subsidy this year. The reason, obviously, is to cut costs. The Sunday Standard has learnt that the number of Haj pilgrims wanting to travel from Mumbai has more than doubled and there is a significant rise in count in Delhi too.
This is likely to result in greater passenger rush at the airports in Mumbai and Delhi, both of which are tremendously stressed. The Civil Aviation Ministry has started mulling steps to ease the pressure.
“We are working on the modalities but airport authorities at Mumbai and Delhi have said it will be difficult, considering the rising air passenger traffic. But we have to figure out a way. The task in Delhi will be especially challenging because, till last year, the T2 terminal was the special Haj terminal. But now T2 has been converted into a fully functional commercial terminal,” a senior official said.
To ease the pressure, authorities are planning to modify Haj travel procedures for these two cities, government sources said. For one, flights are likely to be stretched over a month, instead of a week or 10 days, as at present. The Minority Affairs Ministry has also issued advisories to states and state Haj committees to curtail the number of visitors.
Sources said pilgrims travelling for Haj from smaller cities were flocking to Delhi and Mumbai as they would have to pay much more for flights as compared to these cities. Smaller cities operate flights to Saudi Arabia only during the time of Haj, whereas Mumbai and Delhi have regular flights to that country.
This year, around 14,000 Haj pilgrims are expected to fly from Mumbai compared to 6,297 in 2017. This is because pilgrims from Indore, Aurangabad, Goa and Bhopal have picked Mumbai as their embarkation point instead of their own cities.
Last year, 1,794 pilgrims flew for Haj from Indore. But this year, the number is down to 121 because 1,623 pilgrims will fly from Mumbai. About 4,965 pilgrims from Goa, Aurangabad and Bhopal too will be flying from Mumbai.
Delhi, which sent 16,627 pilgrims for Haj last year, will send around 19,000 this year. Again, this is primarily due to rush from states like Uttar Pradesh and Kashmir. According to sources, pilgrims who fly from Delhi will have to pay around H70,000 as air fare while those from Srinagar will have to shell out around H1,10,000.
According to figures available from last year’s Haj, pilgrims who flew from Mumbai paid H57,000, while those travelling from smaller locations such as Indore paid H62,000. However, the actual cost of flying from Indore was H97,000. The difference was borne by the government as Haj subsidy.
Good reason
Pilgrims travelling from Mumbai would pay around Rs 57,000 in air fare while people flying from Indore would pay around Rs 97,000
Pilgrims who would board the flight from Delhi would pay around Rs 70,000 as air fare while pilgrims boarding from Kashmir would pay around Rs 1,10,000
This year, around 14,000 pilgrims will fly from Mumbai as against 6,297 in 2017; Delhi, which sent 16,627 pilgrims for Haj last year, will send around 19,000 pilgrims