Hassan Cheruppa Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Sameer Abdulaziz Mirdad is a mutawwif (Haj guide) from the Tawafa Establishment for South Asian Pilgrims, an umbrella organization of mutawwifs catering to pilgrims from south Asian countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. When Saudi Gazette met him in Makkah's Aziziyah district recently, he was personally supervising the reception of pilgrims from the Indian state of West Bengal coming from Madinah. As soon as the pilgrims disembarked from their buses, Mirdad got busy supervising workers from the Tawafa Establishment and the Indian Consulate personnel guiding them to their accommodation. Mirdad was also seen supervising the provision of hot meals to each pilgrim. “It is a great honor for me to serve the pilgrims,” said Mirdad, who has been serving pilgrims for 12 years as a mutawwif. His brother Faisal Mirdad is the head of the “maktab” (office of the mutawwif). The two brothers work full time as mutawwifs after the death of their father Abdulaziz Mirdad, who served pilgrims for about 35 years. Mirdad, who runs Maktab No. 50, expressed his unhappiness over the cut in the quota of pilgrims. “Apart from this, the Indian Haj Mission reduced this year the number of pilgrims under each maktab. All these factors resulted in a substantial drop in our revenues this year,” he said. There are 3,570 pilgrims under him. Mirdad rented out 24 buildings — 14 in the Ajyad area near the Haram and 10 in Aziziyah. “These are very good buildings. We will also serve meals for pilgrims at Mina, Muzdalifa and Arafat,” he said. Last year, there were 5,000 pilgrims under one mutawwif, also known as muallim, serving Indian pilgrims while the total number of mutawwifs was 25. But this year there are 34 mutawwifs and only 3,500 pilgrims under each one. There has been a qualitative improvement in the arrangements and services made for the pilgrims, thanks to fewer number of pilgrims under each mutawwif. Meanwhile, Abdul Naser, chief of the Indian Mission's Haram Task Force, told Saudi Gazette that members of the force were able to help more than 5,000 lost pilgrims at Haram to reach their accommodation. Wearing special jackets and caps, the force members started their work from Sept. 16 and those who benefited from its services also included several elderly and sick pilgrims. “The task force's mission included providing all types of services to stranded pilgrims as well as the elderly who need support to complete their rituals and reach their residential buildings. There were no permanent missing cases of any pilgrims so far,” he said. Abdul Naser, deputy collector of Wayanad district in the south Indian state of Kerala, is also one of the six coordinators in charge of looking after the pilgrims from India. Others are Naushad Alam (Delhi), Saeed Tanweer Nabi (Aligarh), Mahmoud Quraishi, Taher Mahajer (Jammu & Kashmir) and Saba Akther. “The coordinators are in charge of supervising all the arrangements made for the accommodation and transportation of pilgrims in Makkah and Madinah. Residential buildings are being allotted to pilgrims only after we issue clearance certificates after closely inspecting buildings and their amenities,” Abdul Naser said, adding that the coordinators ensure that all the facilities promised by the building owners according to the lease contracts are well in place. He said: “We inspected all 434 buildings allotted to pilgrims in Makkah and ensured that each one of them is fit for dwelling. “We are also addressing complaints received from pilgrims. “There have so far been no major complaints as almost all pilgrims are staying in good and new buildings thanks to the demolition of old buildings for the ongoing Haram expansion. “We ensure availability of all facilities for pilgrims as well as their comfort during their stay in Makkah and Madinah.”
