Senior BJD leader and Rajya Sabha MP Narendra Swain alleged that his question with regard to embarkation point for Haj pilgrims at the Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar, was tactfully evaded by the Union Minister in the Parliament recently.
Replying to Swain’s question, Union Minister for State Jayant Sinha said that the Ministry of Minority Affairs had constituted a Haj Policy Review Committee (HPRC) to review the Haj policy of the Government for 2013-2017 and to suggest a framework for new policy for the next five years, from 2018 to 2022. The Minister further said that the committee has submitted its report and recommended reduction of 21 embarkation points to nine.
However, for HAJ 2018, the Ministry of Minority Affairs on the recommendation of Haj Committee of India has decided to retain 20 embarkation points, he said.
In this context, this is to be mentioned that the Haj pilgrims leaving for Saudi Arabia from 21 embarkation points are New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Goa, Srinagar, Guhawati, lucknow, Varanasi, Gaya, Bengaluru, Mangalore, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Ranchi and Bhopal.
But Bhubaneswar has not been included in the list which is a clear case of Central neglect, Swain said and demanded that the Union Government declare the Biju Patnaik Airport as a Haj pilgrim point by 2019.