Kashmir Hajj Pilgrims Miffed By Road Transportation Of Luggage As First Batch Returns From Saudi Arabia
The pilgrims said that transporting eatables like dates brought as a souvenir by road could lead to spoilage, reports Parvez ud Din.
Published : June 2, 2026 at 5:37 PM IST
Srinagar: The first batch of Hajj pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir landed at the Srinagar airport on Tuesday after returning from Saudi Arabia.
The first flight consisting of 144 pilgrims arrived at Srinagar International Airport at 1:15 pm. The batch included 70 female and 74 male pilgrims and they were received by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Advisor to the Chief Minister Nasir Aslam Wani, Deputy Commissioner Budgam, senior officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Hajj Committee and officials of the Airport Authority were also present on the occasion.
The notification issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Hajj Committee had earlier said that due to NOTAM restrictions and operational instructions regarding heavy-lift aircraft, the Hajj pilgrims' goods will be transported from Ahmedabad to Srinagar by road, while immigration and customs clearance will be completed in Ahmedabad itself.
According to the notification, each pilgrim can carry one handbag weighing up to 7 kg. For flights to Srinagar, the check-in baggage per pilgrim has been restricted to 5 kg. Besides baggage, the luggage limit has also been cut to 35 kg from 40 kg leaving pilgrims fuming.
The pilgrims said that transporting eatables like dates in the luggage by road in particular will lead to their spoilage.
“We had requested the Jammu and Kashmir Hajj Committee and the elected government to look into this matter and relieve us of this mental anguish and worry, but to no avail,” a pilgrim told ETV Bharat.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Hajj Committee Chief Executive Officer Dr Shujaat Ahmed Qureshi told ETV Bharat that all the arrangements had been completed before the arrival of the pilgrims.
Chief Minister today received the first batch of Hujjaaj returning from the holy pilgrimage of Haj at Srinagar Airport. He warmly welcomed the pilgrims and congratulated them on the successful completion of this sacred journey. pic.twitter.com/Xi3mx1od6v
— Office of Chief Minister, J&K (@CM_JnK) June 2, 2026
A total of 4704 pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir embarked on Hajj 2026 of whom 1000 embarked from Delhi and 50 from Mumbai airport. The rest of the pilgrims left for the holy pilgrimage from Srinagar airport, including about 323 pilgrims from Ladakh.
This year, Saudi Arabia had introduced several initiatives including stricter health screening, which disqualified some applicants with serious medical conditions, while self-catering facilities for pilgrims were closed at places like Azizia.
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