Spat over pocket money delays pilgrims’ progess

Miffed over reduced foreign currency, Haj aspirants refuse to board plane

Spat over pocket money delays pilgrims' progess

Miffed over reduced foreign currency, Haj aspirants refuse to board plane

Children are touchy about their pocket money but even the elders can prove to be quite sentimental about it.

Pilgrims on their way to Saudi Arabia for the annual Haj refused to board an Air India flight at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday when they were given 1,600 riyals instead of the usual 2,100 for cash expenses in the Kingdom.

As there was no prior announcement, the pilgrims entered into an argument with the Haj Committee officials, claiming the money will not suffice. They refused to board the flight and demanded the full money (2,100 riyals) Before the 248 passengers could be convinced to board the plane, it had already been delayed by two hours.

The flight scheduled to depart at 10.20 am took off at 12.30 pm.

However, the Haj Committe sought to downplay the incident, saying non-availability of doctors for swine flu check up actually caused the delay. "Every passenger has to be screened for H1N1 and thus the flight got dealyed," Mohammad Shakeel Saifi, a member of the Haj Committee, told MiD DAY.u00a0

Later in the evening the panel declared that each pilgrim will get 1,800 riyals.

This year the pilgrims going to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina will have to shell out Rs 4,000 extra for air fare in addition to the existing Rs 12,000.

In total 1,60,491, people will go for Haj this year. Of this, 1.15 lakh pilgrims will go under the aegis of the Haj Committee and get the benefit of government subsidy, while the remaining will travel with the help from private tour operators.

The government used to pay about Rs 400-450 crore every year to Air India as subsidy for the Haj operations.

Rs 600 cr total cost of Haj operations
Rs 150 cr airfare for the pilgrims

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