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| Unrest prevails among Hajjis; why to fly from Srinagar | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Nov 30: A perceptible unrest is prevailing among the relatives of Hajj pilgrims belonging to Jammu region even as government is making all out efforts to make their take off for Jeddah possible.
For fifth consecutive day no flight could take off from Srinagar as entire Kashmir Valley was thickly fogged in. the Jammu based Hajj pilgrims stranded at Srinagar are the worst sufferers a on one hand they are caught in a hostile weather and on the other hand missing their days which they ought to spend at the holy land of Saudi Arabia.
"Our people could have traveled to Delhi to take an onward flight to Saudi Arabia, we can not understand why all of us are routed through Srinagar", said Abdul Hussain from Samba whose brother is stranded at Srinagar. The Jammu based Hajj pilgrims have always been crying for their direct flying arrangement from Jammu instead of taking the Srinagar route which is both inconvenient and time consuming.
In this backdrop, some people from Jammu region have send a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India to guide the authorities that in future some direct arrangement from Jammu is made. Supporting their demand, the J&K convener of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, Balraj Puri too has urged the authorities to either make arrangements from Jammu or Delhi. He said, the urgency had again been highlighted by continuous cancellation of Hajj flight from Srinagar for the last many days due to bad weather on account of which many aspirants for Hajj form Jammu region had been stranded in cold weather of Srinagar.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today urged the Defence Minister, A. K. Antony to air lift by Air Force planes the stranded Hajj pilgrims at Srinagar in the face of hostile weather in Kashmir bringing to halt air traffic to and from the summer capital.
Talking with media persons after the function at the Abhinav Theatre here to celebrate the completion of two years of his government in the State, the Chief Minister said that he telephoned Antony in the morning and requested him to press into service the Air Force planes to airlift the stranded Hajj pilgrims at Srinagar who had not been able to proceed to Jeddah due to foggy conditions prevailing in the valley for some days.
The Chief Minister said that Antony sought details about the stranded pilgrims which had been faxed to him today itself. He said the Defence Minister assured him that he would do whatever possible to tide over the situation arising out of the cancellation of Hajj flights. He said since the pilgrims had to reach Jeddah in a specified time some thing had to be done to take them to Delhi where from they would proceed on the pilgrimage.
The Chief Minister said that the Air Force had earlier also on several occasions come to the rescue of the people of the State by airlifting stranded people between Srinagar and Jammu. He said the Air Force planes were able to land even in poor visibility conditions. |
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