PNS|Vijayawada
AP State Haj Committee Chairman Badwel Sheikh Gausal Azam and MLC Ishak Basha have said that the AP State government has decided to provide all facilities including subsidies for the Haj pilgrimage and set up the embarkation point in Vijayawada. Gausal Azam said that a meeting was held in view of the pilgrimage and took many decisions.
He explained that last year, 1,100 people went for Haj, and this time with double the number of visas, up to 3,000 people will get the chance for Haj pilgrimage.
Azam said that the government would offer Rs 60,000 subsidy for the Haj pilgrims having an income of Rs 3 lakh per annum, and Rs 30,000 subsidy would be given to the pilgrims whose annual income was above Rs 3 lakh. He said that the great opportunity for the Hajis was that they could go for Haj from any State of the country. However, if Andhra Pradesh Hajis leave for the pilgrimage from the Vijayawada airport, then they will get all the facilities including subsidies. They are planning to send them to Makkah from here directly and medical camps will be organised on their behalf in Makkah and Madinah.
Azam said that it would be possible to monitor and track the pilgrims going for Haj from the Vijayawada embarkation point and if they went from Hyderabad and Bengaluru, then they would have to coordinate with the respective State governments. He said that they were making arrangements for 3,000 pilgrims to leave from the Vijayawada embarkation point and appealed to the Hajis to make good use of it.
MLC Ishak Basha said that on the directives of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, he talked to the Aviation Minister, officials and Ministers of Minority Welfare Department in Delhi. With the setting up of an embarkation point in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh has got a special recognition.
