International
New arrangements for Haj pilgrims
By Kesava Menon
MANAMA (Bahrain), JAN. 15. Several new arrangements have been made for pilgrims attending this year's Haj in Saudi Arabia. These arrangements cover travel, accommodation, communication and welfare. About 110,000 Indian pilgrims are expected to attend the Haj this year.
For the first time since the adoption of the Reserved Accommodation scheme, all pilgrims coming under the aegis of the Central Haj Committee will stay in buildings with lifts. Every building will, also for the first time, have a telephone to enable direct communication in case of an emergency.
Of the 70,000 pilgrims being brought by the Central Haj Committee, 65,000 will stay within a kilometre of the central shrine in Makkah, the Haram. A total of 302 buildings have been hired to accommodate these pilgrims.
The rest have opted for exemption and will stay in traditional Rubats or in accommodation arranged by relatives. In Madinah, four contractors will provide accommodation for all pilgrims in eight-day cycles. Here, the accommodation is within 750 m of the Prophet's Mosque.
All pilgrims will travel only on the aircraft of national carriers with the Air-India carrying 40,000 pilgrims and the Saudi Arabian Airways carrying 30,500.
There will be 250 flights from 10 departure points in India as compared to 232 flights from eight points last year. The new departure points this year are Lucknow and Srinagar.
In the arrival phase, the pilgrim movement from the airport will be considerably faster this year as they no longer need to encash bank drafts into riyals after arrival in Jeddah.
In collaboration with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, arrangements have been made to provide riyals at departure points in India. Ground handling for Air-India at the Haj Terminal has been improved with the number of counters and X- ray facilities being doubled.
For the first time this year, in close co-operation with the South Asian Moassasa and the Mutawafeen, efforts will be made to move Indian pilgrims to the Jamarat in manageable groups for the ritual of stoning. This will provide greater safety to pilgrims. Stampedes have taken place during this ritual at least a couple of times in recent years.
A team of 200 doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other paramedical staff is in place and they will man nine clinics and a 15-bed hospital in Makkah and four clinics in Madinah. Medicines worth Rs. 90 lakhs have also been received. Approximately 150 administrative personnel are being sent by the Centre on deputation to assist the pilgrims from India.
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