With the departure of 18th batch of Haj pilgrims leaving for Jeddah, the 17-day long Haj Camp at Nampally concluded here on Sunday.
The last batch of Haj pilgrims was flagged off by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, TPCC Vice-President Mohammed Ali Shabbir, former minister Danam Nagender and others.
Addressing the pilgrims, Ponnala, Shabbir Ali and Danam requested the pilgrims to pray for the well being of nation, especially Telangana State. Shabbir Ali asked the pilgrims to remain focused on prayers during their stay in Holy Mecca and Madina and advised them to minimise the use of mobile phones. He recalled his experiences of Haj and Umra and asked pilgrims to stay alert all the time. He said the pilgrims should thank the Almighty as they were among a few who got selected among thousands of others for the holy journey.
Telangana State Haj Committee Special Officer Prof SA Shukoor informed that as many as 18,083 applications were received as against the HCI’s quota of 5,380 pilgrims for Haj 2014. Of them, 1,476 were selected under Reserved Quota. As many as 3,903 pilgrims were selected through draw of lots. While 33 Haj pilgrims were selected under HCI’s special quota, 980 pilgrims under waiting list were selected later. A total of 602 pilgrims cancelled their trip due to various reasons.
Of 6,043 pilgrims who left for the holy journey from Hyderabad Embarkation Point, 3,928 were from Telangana, 1,376 from Andhra Pradesh, 739 from neighbouring districts of Karnataka. A total of 413 pilgrims of Anantapur and Chittoor districts left for Haj from Bangalore Embarkation Point. They included 3,147 men, 2,896 women and six infants. A total of 73 pilgrims, who were selected from the waiting list by the HCI, has reached Mumbai on Sunday through three special buses arranged by the TSHC and they would depart for Jeddah from Mumbai International Airport on Monday.
In the 17th batch, six seats remained empty as pilgrims who got selected from HCI’s special quota cancelled their trip at the last minute.
The Haj Camp began at Nampally on September 12 and the first flight left for Jeddah on September 14. As many as 19 departments were involved in the process of sending Haj pilgrims to the holy journey.
The TSHC also faced some difficulties this year as this was the first Haj camp after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Three days after the beginning of the camp, a tragedy occurred a few yards away from the Haj House wherein four persons were electrocuted to death. The HCI had also lost the passport of one of the pilgrims and with the active cooperation of authorities, a fresh passport was issued in nearly two hours. Despite minor glitches, the Haj Camp 2014 concluded successfully on Sunday. (INN)