Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
If the sources are to be believed, the private airline operator, Spice Jet, will be transporting the Haj 2023 pilgrims from the city’s Chikalthana Airport. Earlier, the contract was given to Go Air, but due to the financial crisis, the transporter seems to have changed, said the sources.
The Haj Committee of India (HCOI) has selected 22 embarkation points (EP) from the country including three in Maharashtra to transport the Haj pilgrims through direct flights to Jeddah. The local devotees will be boarding the flight from the airport after a gap of 2 years.
It is learnt that the new airline operator has visited the local airport to review the facilities. Hence it is clear that the pilgrims boarding direct flights from the local embarkation point will be Spice Jet.
Rs 88K extra each is burdensome
Meanwhile, there is unrest among the Haj aspirants boarding the direct flight from Aurangabad Embarkation Point as they are coerced to pay around Rs 88,000 extra compared to the local pilgrims boarding their Haj flights from Mumbai Embarkation Point. The public representatives, NGOs and associations have represented their issue before the union Ministry concerned to reduce the charges. Meanwhile, a few alert citizens had also approached the court demanding to change their embarkation point to Mumbai.