Fahd Al-Manaee Saudi Gazette MAKKAH — The Tawafa Establishment for Non-Arab African Pilgrims' committee in charge of grouping pilgrims before they go to Jamarat held a meeting on Thursday with the establishment's field service groups to discuss how to organize performance of the ritual. Hisham Madani, director of data support and administrative affairs at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, attended the meeting. The meeting discussed in detail the observations and remarks from last year with a view to avoiding mistakes and building on positive results to ensure pilgrims are provided with safety and comfort to perform the stoning of the Satan ritual. Madani told the meeting: “There are plans based on quantitative evidence from last year to ensure the safety and comfort of the pilgrims during this year's Haj season.” He said each Tawafa establishment would be given special routes for their pilgrims to go the Jamarat and return to their tents in complete ease and comfort. He added: “The ministry will also have observers to monitor the movement of pilgrims to the Jamarat and back.” Madani said the ministry would supply all Tawafa establishments and field service groups with copies of a documentary film dubbed in various languages to be shown to pilgrims so they know how to travel to Jamarat and return. “Pilgrims will be grouped in batches of at most 250 people, making it easy for them to reach the Jamarat area to throw stones.” Dr. Muhammad Zamzami, deputy chairman of the committee in charge of grouping the pilgrims, said there were many ways to avoid problems that occurred last year and asked observers and grouping officials to use wireless communication channels to inform each other of the movement of the pilgrims. He called for reducing the number of pilgrims in groups that travel to the Jamarat and those who are reentering their camps to avoid congestion. Zamzami called for placing billboards at the tents to show the pilgrims the paths designated for them when they go to the Jamarat area. He said the ministry's 12 observers would be carrying signboards for pilgrims to follow. He added: “The observers will monitor the grouping, the movement of pilgrims and the paths leading to the Jamarat.” At the end of the meeting special costumes for the observers and the guidance signboards were handed over.
