Mangaluru: The first batch of Haj pilgrims for the current year will fly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from Mangalore Airport on Monday. Two more batches will follow on July 25 and 26. The first flight will take off to Jeddah from the airport at 4.15 pm on July 24. The check in procedures will start at Mangaluru Old Airport at 1.30 pm.

A farewell programme for Haj pilgrims will be held at Ansar School in Bajpe at 11 am on the same day. Khazi Twakha Ahmed Musliar will present the invocation. Udupi, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan Samyukta Khazi P M Ibrahim Musliar Bekal will deliver a spiritual discourse. Ministers B Ramanath Rai, U T Khader, M P Nalin Kumar Kateel, Haj Committee office-bearers and others will be present.

Two flights will leave for Jeddah from Mangalore Airport at 12.55 pm on July 25 and 4.15 pm on July 26 as well. The pilgrims have been asked to complete the registration process at Mangalore Old Airport, two days earlier to their departure.

There are two categories in the pilgrimage , green and azizia. This time, due to shortage of facilities, 19,734 pilgrims out of those who have applied for green category, have been transferred to azizia. A total of 4.48 lakh people had applied through Indian Haj Committee for the pilgrimage. The quota provided to India by Saudi Arabia is 1.70 lakh. In this, 1.25 lakh pilgrims will travel through Haj Committee and others through private agencies.