<span style="color: #222222;">In the Lok Sabha, the issue of exclusion of Chennai Airport from the list of embarkation points for Haj pilgrimage created noisy scenes for a while. The issue was raised by the DMP Parliamentary Party leader TR Baalu during the Question Hour. He pointed out that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month urged to restore the embarkation point status to the Airport. The Minorities Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in his reply said Saudi Arabia has imposed several Covid-19 led restrictions, though he said there is scope for an increase in the number of pilgrims this year after a gap of two years of its suspension. The DMK members raised their feet pressing their demand for providing the Haj embarkation point status to Chennai Airport saying the people of Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were using the airport for long for their pilgrimage. As the acrimonious scenes continued, Speaker Om Birla suggested the DMK members sit with the Union Ministers of Minority Affairs and Civil Aviation to sort it out amicably. </span><br />