KOCHI: The first special flight scheduled as part of the haj pilgrimage 2022 will depart from the Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) to Medina on Saturday morning.
The Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV5747 will take off at 8.30am with 377 pilgrims and it will be flagged off by minister V Abdurahiman.
Industries minister P Rajeeve, ports minister A P Abdullakutty, haj committee chairman C Mohammed Faizi, MLAs P T A Rahim and Anwar Sadath, Ernakulam district collector Jafar Malik, Malappuram district collector V R Prem Kumar, etc, are expected to attend the flagging-off ceremony.
The pilgrimage from India is being conducted after two years due to the pandemic.
Kochi will be this year’s embarkation point for pilgrims from Kerala, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. This year, 7,724 pilgrims will travel to Medina in 20 special flights scheduled between June 4 and 16. There will be 377 pilgrims in each aircraft and negative RT-PCR test certificate is mandatory. The pilgrimage is for 40 days and pilgrims will return to Kochi from Jeddah airport once they complete their pilgrimage.
Out of the 7,724 pilgrims, 5,758 are from Kerala, which include 2,056 men and 3,702 women. The remaining 1,966 pilgrims are from Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar.
Cial in association with Kerala state haj committee made elaborate arrangements to set up the camp for the pilgrims and their hassle-free embarkation on the flights. The camp can accommodate 1,500 pilgrims at a time. A temporary shed spreading across 1 lakh sq ft was constructed at the airport for the camp. Also, around 10,000 sq ft of area at Cial’s aviation academy building has been allotted for the camp to set up temporary space for the offices of various committees and to arrange accommodation for women pilgrims. The accommodation for male pilgrims has been set up in one portion of the main hall.
On Friday, the distribution of the government’s Ayush homeopathy department’s ‘Haj Shifa Kits’, which contain essential homeo-medicines for the pilgrims has been started. It was launched by haj committee chairman Mohammed Faizi in the presence of district medical office Leena Rani and others.
Dining facilities and toilets spread across 3,000 sq ft each have been set up for pilgrims. A medical team along with ambulance is there round-the-clock.
