1st group of Indian Haj pilgrims arrive in Madinah
Jeddah: The first group of 419 Indian pilgrims for the upcoming Haj have arrived in Saudi Arabia to perform the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Makkah, according to a media report.
Indian Ambassador Ausaf Sayeed, Consul General Noor Rahman Sheikh and Haj Consul Y Sabir received the pilgrims on arrival at the Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah on Thursday, the Saudi Gazette reported.
In a significant step, Saudi Arabia increased India's Haj quota from 170,000 to 200,000, paving the way for 30,000 more Indians to go for the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in the kingdom.
The first chartered plane that took off from New Delhi late Wednesday night carried 419 pilgrims, the report said on Thursday.
Officials of the Indian Haj Mission said all the pilgrims were in good health and were given accommodation close to the Prophet's Mosque in the central area of Medina.
The pilgrims will stay in the Prophet's City for eight days and will move to Makkah on July 12.
Out of a total of 1,40,000 people performing the pilgrimage under the aegis of the Haj Committee of India, about 63,000 will arrive in Medina by July 21 and the remaining 77,000 will arrive in Jeddah between July 20 and August 5, the report added.
The Haj will take place tentatively from August 8 to August 14.
An office is functioning round-the-clock at Madinah airport to assist arriving Indian pilgrims.
Also, for the first time, the Haj Committee of India has put tags on the baggage of the pilgrims marking the building details along with the room number allotted to them, the report added.
Besides its main office and three branch offices, the Indian Haj Mission has also set up one 10-bedded dispensary and three branch dispensaries in localities where the pilgrims are staying.
Indian pilgrims landing in Jeddah will start moving to Medina from August 19 after performing the Haj.
They will then depart for their respective destinations in India from Prince Muhammad Airport in Medina after an eight-day stay in the Prophet's City.
The pilgrims arriving in Medina will leave for home from Jeddah starting August 16. The departure phase will continue until September 14, the report said.
In Jeddah, the first Haj flight from India will arrive on July 20 from Ahmedabad. However, pilgrims ferried by private tour operators started arriving in Jeddah on Thursday.
Last year, Saudi Arabia increased India's Haj quota by 5,000, while in 2017 it was increased by about 35,000
The Haj subsidy provided by the government was removed last year in the light of a Supreme Court order of 2012.
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West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee moves SC against SIR
New Delhi (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state, sources said on Sunday.
The petition names the Election Commission (EC) and the chief electoral officer of West Bengal as respondents. It was filed before the apex court on January 28, the sources said.
Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Sunday. She is scheduled to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at 4 pm on Monday to discuss the ongoing SIR exercise in West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo would be accompanied by a delegation of party leaders.
She is also likely to meet party MPs in the Parliament House on Monday.
Talking to reporters at the Kolkata airport before leaving for the national capital, Banerjee claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is resorting to the SIR exercise because it is certain of its imminent defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls, due in a few months, and said the saffron party should contest the election politically and democratically.
The West Bengal chief minister has written several letters to the CEC, raising concerns over the conduct of the exercise.
In her most recent letter to the CEC on January 31, she alleged that the methodology and approach of the exercise went beyond the provisions of the Representation of the People Act and the relevant rules, causing "immense inconvenience and agony" to citizens.
Earlier, TMC leaders, including Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen, had moved the apex court, challenging certain aspects of how the SIR is being carried out in West Bengal.
