Patna, June 16: Responding to the chief minister Nitish Kumar’s proposal, the Union external affairs ministry is gearing up to send the Haj pilgrims of Bihar to Mecca through Calcutta and Bagdogra airports in Bengal instead of Delhi.

“The external affairs minister, S.M. Krishna, told our delegation recently that he was working to arrange the flight of the Bihar’s Haj pilgrims from Calcutta and Bagdogra in response to the chief minister’s plea,” the chairman of Bihar Haj Committee, Anisur Rahman, told The Telegraph. “The chief minister had written to Krishna on our plea,” he said.

The 40-day Haj pilgrimage begins in early October. Apart from the relatively better option to fly for Medina and Mecca, the state government is planning to give the Haj committee two more buildings near the Haj Bhavan to accommodate the pilgrims and their attendants.

“We have written for two more buildings, which the government has promised to give by September,” Rahman said, appreciating Nitish’s efforts for the pilgrims. The Bihar government handed over the three-storeyed Haj Bhavan glazing in shining red stones to the Haj committee to accommodate the devotees on pilgrimage in 2006 when Nitish became the chief minister. It can accommodate about 800 pilgrims. Now, the NDA government has apparently decided to give two more buildings to the pilgrims setting off for their most “pious pilgrimage”. “Helping a devotee in going to Medina and Mecca is the most important service. We will pray for dua (blessings) to him (Nitish),” Anwarullah Khan, a resident of Samanpura area who is about to send his elderly mother and other relatives on Haj this year, said.

“While the RJD-LJP leaders were crying hoarse over the police firing at Forbesganj, Nitish was silently working to secure the dua (blessings) of the Muslims,” a senior JD(U) leader said, asking in a lighter vein, “Guess, which will work more — hue and cry over the firing or the dua?”

The Muslims, who had so far been going on Haj via Delhi, strongly protested against the “maltreatment” to the pilgrims in Delhi airport last year. The pilgrims, especially from the state, approached Nitish through the Haj committee to arrange their direct flight from Bihar.

Since big planes cannot land at Patna airport, Nitish initiated the move to send them from Bodhgaya international airport. Though Bodhgaya has a big runway, it is yet to get developed to get big planes on regular basis. Besides, the international airlines did not show much interest in Gaya. Then Nitish immediately wrote to Krishna to arrange the pilgrims’ flight from Bagdogra, bordering the Muslim-dominated Kishenganj, Araria, Purnea and Katihar districts of the state, and Calcutta.