HYDERABAD: Want to get a glimpse of the airport in the heart of the city? Just drop in at the Haj House, Nampally. You will find some wheeling baggage trolleys, a few getting their luggage scanned and strapped and some clutching their passports and boarding passes. As one proceeds further into the main building, one can find Customs, Immigration and Foreign Exchange counters.
There is a beehive of activity out here. The Haj House resembles a mini aerodrome with all the functions of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport being carried out here. Pilgrims embarking on Haj pilgrimage never had it so easy. The Telangana State Haj Committee (TSHC) is taking care of every travel need of pilgrims flying out from the Hyderabad embarkation point.
Once pilgrims arrive at the Haj House they are as good as in the airport. They just have to pick up their passports and boarding passes and zoom away after reaching the airport. The entire 11-storeyed edifice is security-sanitised with police and surveillance cameras.
A total of 7,273 pilgrims, including 4,390 from Telangana, 1,726 from AP and the rest from Karnataka are proceeding to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia through 25 chartered flights till August 15. With two to three flights scheduled every day, the Haj House is literally bursting at the seams with nearly 1,000 persons, including pilgrims, volunteers and officers of various departments present at any given time.
“With the cooperation of all departments, we are able to manage. Telangana has the credit of being the number one state in handling the affairs in a smooth way”, says Prof SA Shukoor, Special Officer, TSHC.