Srinagar, May 4 : The first batch of this year's Hajj pilgrims left the Hajj house on Sunday for the Srinagar international airport to board the special flight for Saudi Arabia.

This year, over 3600 pilgrims will leave Jammu and Kashmir to perform the holiest Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj.

The first batch of 178 pilgrims, comprising 96 men and 82 women, reached the Hajj House in the Bemina area of Srinagar city in the morning.

The pilgrims were asked to reach the Hajj House between 5 a.m. to 5.30 a.m. for final preparations and departure to the airport.

Authorities have kept special buses to carry the pilgrims to the airport, but no relative or friend of the pilgrims will be allowed to accompany them to the airport.

Shujaat Ahmad Qureshi, chief executive officer of the J&K Hajj committee, said the first flight carrying pilgrims will leave from the Srinagar International Airport later in the day.

Senior officers, including the divisional commissioner (Kashmir), V.K. Bidhuri, visited the Hajj House on Saturday to take stock of the final arrangements being made for the pilgrims.

All the Hajj pilgrims from the union territory, including those from the Jammu division, will have to report at the Hajj House in Srinagar for their onward journey to Saudi Arabia.

Emotional scenes were witnessed at the Hajj House as families bade farewell to their members leaving on the pilgrimage.

It was a mix of joy and sorrow as relatives expressed joy for their family members leaving to perform the pilgrimage and some sadness for the separation, as the two-way journey takes over a month on average.

In contrast to the last many years during which lots were drawn to fill the seats, for the last three years, the number of applicants for the pilgrimage has been less than the allotted seats.

This has made undertaking the journey easy for those who can afford it.

/IANS