Haj pilgrims to pay more for airfare
From this year onwards, Haj pilgrims from India travelling on government subsidies will have to pay `16,000 each as airfare, an increase of `4,000 from the current `12,000. The rest of the airfare will be paid by the government. This year, 1.25 lakh Haj pilgrims will avail of government subsidies while the total number of Haj pilgrims from India will be about 1.7 lakh. From this year onwards, Bhopal and Goa have been added as new embarkation points for the pilgrimage. The government announced that “this year, most of the pilgrims will be carried by Saudi Arabian Airlines, National Private Air Services Ltd and Al-Wafeer Air, which have been selected through a sealed tender process” and that “Air India will co-ordinate the operations and provide support on cost basis, wherever required”.
“This year, each pilgrim going on Haj through the Haj Committee of India will pay Rs 16,000 (plus airport charges) as air fare,” the Cabinet decided.
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Gandhak breach threatens a Kosi repeat
ANAND S.T. DAS
Patna
A breach in the embankment of the mighty Gandak river in north-western Bihar on Thursday raised fears of a likely repetition of the 2008 Kosi flooding catastrophe in the state’s northeast. With thousands of people fleeing their homes, rescue teams were put in place and efforts to plug the breach were heightened to save an estimated 14 lakh people facing flood threats.
Within days after the Himalayan river’s surging waters raised the pressure on its embankments in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, a 25-metre stretch of the embankment between Batardeh and Salehpur in Baraulu block was washed away on Thursday afternoon. Although the flow of water through the breach is currently relatively slow, engineers and flood-watchers said rains in Nepal, from where the Gandak flows, could worsen the situation into a full-scale flood in at least three Bihar districts.
The Bihar government sounded an alert.
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