Haj pilgrimage from Kerala will begin on Sunday

MALAPPURAM: Haj pilgrimage under the Kerala state haj committee will begin on Sunday. Heralding the haj pilgrimage season of the year, haj camp will begin at state haj house at Karippur on Saturday. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the camp.
The first haj flight from state would leave for Madina on Sunday. Saudi Airlines will operate a total of 36 services from Karippur carrying 300 pilgrims in each aircraft till July 20. Air India will operate haj service from Nedumbassery, which is the second haj embarkation point in state, from July 14 to 17.
This year pilgrims would directly fly to Madina. The HCI had allotted a total of 13,194 seats for the state including additional seats and the total number of haj applicants from state this year was 43,115. Among these 1,199 applicants are under reserved category for those above 70 years of age and 2,011 women applicants without Mehram have been directly selected for the pilgrimage.
Haj cell of the camp would be opened on Friday as 55 cell members will take charge of office under DSP S Najeeb who is the haj cell officer. Haj authorities have informed that hajis should report at the camp on the previous day of their journey. Chairman of state haj committee C Muhammed Faizi said that the arrangements to accommodate the hajis have been completed on Thursday and a trial run of haj cell also held on the same day.
On Saturday, chief minister will also lay foundation stone for the proposed Women Block building of Haj house, at the inaugural function of the haj camp. Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal will lead prayer session. Haj affairs minister K T Jaleel, MPs E T Muhammed Basheer, M K Raghavan, P K Kunhalikkutty, Elamaram Kareem and P V Abdul Wahab, MLAs T V Ibrahim, P Abdul Hameed Master, Karatt Rasaq, Muhammed Muhsin, PTA Raheem and others will attend the function.