Karnataka Haj Committee organised a programme to mark the inauguration of Haj flights here on Sunday.
MP K Rehman Khan, MP D B Chandre Gowda, Agriculture Marketing Minister S K Bellubbi, former minister Mumtaz Ali Khan and MLA Roshan Baig handed over passports and boarding pass to Haj pilgrims and wished them a safe voyage.
Speaking at the function K Rehman Khan, said, “There are a large number of Haj pilgrims from India and we are only next to Indonesia. The All Indian Haj Committee received more than 6 lakh application out of which 1.2 lakh people are been lucky. From Karnataka 7,100 will be on voyage. The special flight operation starts from Tuesday.”
The state Haj pilgrims will travel in 20 flights on a daily basis. BIAL will operate 11 flights, Mangalore will operate four, Goa will have two and Hyderabad three flights for Bidar, Gulbarga and Yadgir.
Bangalore will host pilgrims from all districts including Ananthpur, except Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Udupi, Hassan and Chikmagalur, whohave to go to Mangalore.
Goa will accommodate Belgaum and North Karnataka pilgrims. The state government has sanctioned grants for maintenance of the State Haj Committee during the financial year of 2012-2013, it has also allocated Rs 10 crore for the construction of Haj Ghar which is under way.