First Haj flight from M'lore on Oct 25

Addressing a news conference in Mangalore on Wednesday, Minister for Haj, Wakf and Minority Welfare Prof Mumtaz Ali Khan said  a total of 6 flights will ply from Mangalore International Airport from October 25 to October 30 carrying a total of over 700 pilgrims. Each flight will take about 112 pilgrims. The facility can be availed by the pilgrims from Udupi, DK, UK and Kodagu districts. He said that it will fly via Calicut to Jeddah due to technical reasons. The return flight will start from Madina on December 2 and the last return flight to Mangalore will be on December 12.

District-in-Charge Minister J Krishna Palemar said that while about 700 pilgrims are going on Haj pilgrimage from Mangalore while 6,000 pilgrims will leave on pilgrimage from the State and 1,42,000 from the country. The government is providing Haj subsidy of Rs 18,000 besides Rs 1 crore has been released for Ullal Dargah Committee for Urus programme.