MADURAI: The Union government refusing to earmark Chennai as an embarkation point for Hajj has not gone down well with the pilgrims in the State. Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, in reply to Madurai MP Su Venkatesan’s letter urging to permit Chennai International Airport as an embarkation point for Haj 2022, said the number of embarkation points have been reduced due to Covid-19.
“Arrangements for Hajj 2022 were being made under special circumstances with special norms, rules and regulations due to the pandemic. Provisional guidelines, including embarkation points for Hajj 2022 have been issued by the Hajj Committee of India after extensive consultation with the stakeholders,” he said.
M Mohammed Ali Jinna, who has been a Hajj guide for over 18 years, said the embarkation points have been reduced from 21 to 10. At least 10,000 pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar islands and parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh would go to Hajj every year from Chennai. An exclusive Hajj house has been created by Tamil Nadu Hajj Committee and Tamil Nadu Hajj Service Society for the comfortable accommodation of the pilgrims. Further, Chennai has been there in the list of embarkation centres since 1987.
“The Centre’s decision to exclude Chennai would now force the elderly to travel around 700 kilometres to Kochi embarkation point, where they would not have any accommodation facilities,” he said. Further, with Kerala being one of the worst Covid hit states, the gathering of around 30,000 pilgrims in one point would not only put the lives of pilgrims at risk but also would most likely become a hotspot of viral spread, he said, urging the government to further consider and allow Chennai to function as the embarkation point.
“The request to include Chennai was made citing the pandemic situation. The Union government has denied permission citing the same pandemic situation. When cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bengaluru are included, why is it not possible to include Chennai? Why is it not possible to follow the same Covid protocols in Chennai airport?” asked Su Venkatesan.
Retaliating to State President of BJP, K Annamalai, who citing the Centre’s statement, said CM MK Stalin did not send any representation and the DMK’s ‘politics was only in optics and not in principles’, Venkatesan said, “The letter was sent to Prime Minister’s office. If the respective department minister did not receive the letter even after 20 days, Annamalai should be questioning the PM and not our CM.”
Chairperson of the State Minorities Commission, S Peter Alphonse, who also condemned the decision, said, “Covid regulations apply to all airports. If it can be relaxed at Kochi, can it not be relaxed in Chennai?”