Mangaluru : The Haj Committee of India will sanction at least Rs. 1.5 crore for building a Haj Bhavan near the old terminal building of the Mangaluru International Airport, according to its vice-chairman M.M. Ahmed.

Replying to questions from presspersons on the sidelines of launching the Haj pilgrimage from Mangaluru International Airport from Sunday, he said that if the State government handed over the land to the committee the bhavan could be built.

He said that the committee gave a maximum of Rs. 3 crore for building any Haj Bhavan in the country. Since Mangaluru was a small airport and the number of Haj pilgrims was not huge the committee would ensure a minimum of Rs. 1.50 crore for the purpose.

B.A. Mohiuddin Bava, MLA, Mangaluru City North, said that the State government had allotted 1.94 acres near the airport for constructing the bhavan.

Presently the land had been allotted to the Department of Minorities which had to transfer the land to the committee.

A meeting to speed up the process of transfer would be conducted shortly. In all, 666 pilgrims would leave for the pilgrimage from the airport from August 16 to August 20. They were from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan districts.

The flights from here would carry them to Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Madinah.

On the inaugural day on Sunday, 134 pilgrims, including 79 men and 59 women, left for the pilgrimage.

U.T. Khader, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, said that in addition to teams of doctors from Karnataka, who attend to the pilgrims from the State, an officer from Dakshina Kannada would leave shortly.

Minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology B. Ramanath Rai, Minister of State for Youth Empowerment and Sports K. Abhayachandra Jain, J.R. Lobo, MLA, Mangaluru City South, K. Vasanth Bangera, MLA, Belthangady, Mayor Jacintha Vijaya Alfred, Ivan D’Souza, MLC were present.