Haj pilgrims yet to receive holy water

It's the liquid bomb scare which restrained Air-India from distributing ab-e-zamzam (holy water) among Haj pilgrims who returned to the state from Mecca in the last week of December. Though the matter has taken a curious turn involving intervention of a few Union ministers, only about 200 of approximately 8,500 Haj pilgrims, who have returned to the state from Mecca, are given ab-e-zamzam mainly due to ban on carrying liquid material in the flight.
"Due to short supply from Saudi Arabia we are able to distribute the holy water only among 200 pilgrims," admitted PK Srivastava, coordinator (Air-India), Haj operations at Amausi airport in Lucknow. He said that mainly due to security concerns Saudi authorities were loading only that water which was given to them by government agencies. Initially, the Saudi authorities had refused to supply any liquid, but now they had agreed to supply it, he said adding that though the process was lengthy no pilgrim would be deprived of the holy water.
Interestingly, Union minister of state for home affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal on Monday maintained that no restriction was imposed by Saudi authorities and the delay was caused by Air-India authorities.
15/08/Akhilesh Kumar Singh/Times of India

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Categories: Air India - International Jan 2008, Foreign Jan 2008, NACIL Jan 2008