Hyderabad: AIMIM MP Asadududdin Owaisi on Thursday said that for the past two to three weeks, approximately 4,000 Indian Umrah pilgrims have been stranded in Medina, Jeddah, and Mecca and facing hardship.
He said their travel agents have left them to fend for themselves. All 4,000 of these pilgrims travelled via IndiGo airlines, Akasa Air, and Air India. Currently, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India is not granting permission for these three airlines—IndiGo, Akasa Air, and Air India—to fly to Jeddah.
“We demand that the DGCA immediately grant permission to these airlines to deploy larger aircraft, such as the A321, to bring back these 4,000 Indian pilgrims who are in a dire situation, having been completely abandoned by the travel agents who took them there,” he urged.
While some pilgrims have been accommodated in places like Jeddah, the overall situation is one of severe distress. Given the changing circumstances in that country, he urged the Central government, specifically the Minister of Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju; the Minister of External Affairs, Dr. S. Jaishankar; and the Minister of Civil Aviation, K Ram Mohan Naidu—to take immediate note of this matter.
“If the DGCA does not grant permission, we demand that the Central government dispatch special aircraft to bring these Umrah pilgrims home. It is important to note that these pilgrims belong to economically disadvantaged backgrounds; they lack the financial means to purchase tickets on Saudi Airlines and are currently in a state of great distress,” he said.
“We hope that the External Affairs Minister, the Aviation Minister, and the Minister of Minority Affairs will take note of this, provide immediate assistance to these individuals, and bring them back to India safely,” he added.
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