127 Haj pilgrims from Bihar stranded in Medina

About 127 Haj pilgrims from Bihar are stranded in Saudi Arabia for more than 36 hours after their flight was cancelled due to some technical reason.
The group, consisting of 54 women and 73 men, claimed they were not being provided any information when their flight would actually take off for Gaya from Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz airport in Medina.
"We had to take our return flight (AI-5012) on November 1 but were told that the flight has been cancelled due to some technical reason. Now we have no information about when our flight would take off," 54-year-old Gulshan Ara told PTI from Medinah.

Ara, along with her 60-year-old husband Mohammed Jan Alam and other, had left for Medinah from Gaya on Air India flight (AI-5913) on September 21.
The group consists mostly of aged pilgrims from Bihar's Muzaffarpur (120) and Nalanda (seven) district.
They were to come back from Medinah to Gaya as per schedule on November 1 by Air India flight (AI 5012), which was scheduled to arrive 2.40 PM at Gaya airport.

When contacted, an Air India official said the flight was not being operated by the national carrier and was being carried out by private airlines.
Alam claimed that as their flight was on November 1, their luggage were taken away by the airlines and they were told to vacate the hotel as their hotel bookings had expired.

"Now, the hotel people are asking us to vacate the rooms as our booking has expired but we resisted as we were not given assurances about our place of stay at the airport. Since our luggage have gone to airport, we have no much money left with us. Some of us have already exhausted our money," Alam said over phone from Medinah.