New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) The first batch of Indian Haj pilgrims will leave for Saudi Arabia Tuesday, beginning a two-and-a-half month operation during which over 123,000 Indian Muslims will perform the annual pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah.
The first flight of the National Air Services of Saudi Arabia, carrying 250 passengers, will take off from the Delhi airport Tuesday morning and is scheduled to land at the Jeddah airport at 1 p.m.

Starting Tuesday, about a dozen flights will carry around 4,000 pilgrims a day till Nov 22 from 19 different Indian embarkation points. The Haj operation will conclude on Jan 1, 2010, according to the salient features for the pilgrimage approved by the union cabinet Monday.

Over 123,200 pilgrims will travel under the government subsidy scheme, while 45,000 pilgrims will travel through private tour operators.

The cabinet also approved two new embarkation points for this year in Ranchi and Mangalore.

The pilgrims would travel on Air India, Saudi Arabian Airline and National Air Services of Saudi Arabia.