JEDDAH — As of Monday, around 50,000 Indian Haj pilgrims have arrived in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, according to Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak. He said that these pilgrims arrived on board 150 flights that landed at Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah while the first flight carrying Indian pilgrims landed in Jeddah Monday evening. The Flight No. XY 7751 NAS flight, carrying 230 pilgrims from Indore, touched down at the Haj terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport at 5 p.m. Mubarak, Deputy Consul General and Haj Consul Mohammed Noor Rahman Sheikh and senior officials of the Ministry of Haj, General Authority of Civil Aviation and NAS Airline were at the airport to receive the pilgrims. Nine flights, including those from Hyderabad and Kozhikode, will land in Jeddah on Wednesday. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Mubarak said that more than 30,000 pilgrims are in Madinah while more than 18,000 arrived in Makkah after completing Madinah Ziyarah. He said that there has been a significant qualitative improvement in the services being rendered to the pilgrims this year. “For the first time, all pilgrims are carrying standardized baggage allotted by the Central Haj Committee. Until last year, we have been insisting that pilgrims should bring standardized baggage by themselves but this year, the committee has provided the uniform baggage,” he said. There has been conspicuous improvement in the number of pilgrims taking advantage of the Saudi Project For Utilization of Sacrificial Animals (Adahi), implemented by the Islamic Development Bank. “As many as 72,791 pilgrims opted for Adahi coupons, comparing to 21,000 last year,” said Mubarak. “This year the Central Haj Committee instructed that those pilgrims who do not want to pay for Adahi coupons shall inform the committee about it. Only 27,000 pilgrims informed that they do not want the Adahi coupon,” he said. The Haj mission had earlier unveiled plan to make the purchase of Adahi coupon compulsory and wanted to distribute them from their respective embarkation points. But it abandoned the idea when a section of pilgrims opted out. The Haj mission will inform pilgrims the tentative time for the sacrifice of animals under each maktab, he said. Mubarak claimed that there has been tremendous improvement in the quality and standard of buildings rented out for the pilgrims. “In Makkah, we have the record number of buildings with attached bathrooms. This was made possible mainly because of the availability of several new buildings plus our enormous attempts to pick and choose better buildings,” he said adding that 80 percent of buildings in Green category in the Central Haram area are hotel type/newly constructed/equipped with modern facilities having attached bathrooms and kitchen facilities. Mubarak said that Aziziyah transportation has also improved substantially. “Until last year, there was one bus for every 360 pilgrim but this year it has been brought down to one bus per 250 pilgrims,” he added. Mubarak and Rahman Sheikh said that the pilgrims are provided with almost all the available high tech facilities. This year, we have upgraded the Indian Haji Accommodation Locator through introducing an emergency button for complaint registration in the home page of the application whereby a pilgrim can register his complaint with the Indian Haj Pilgrims' Office as well as he can track the status of his complaint from time to time, they said. A pilgrim can contact the Pilgrims' Office through its toll free number (8002477786). The pilgrims can contact the Haj mission and concerned offices through WhatsApp number (00966 543891481). An SMS alert system has also been introduced. The Indian Haj Mission is the first foreign mission in the Kingdom to come up with the innovative Global Positioning System (GPS) application last year. There is also mobile recharge facility plus watching translation of Friday sermon from Haram in English and Urdu languages by using the Haj mission's application. Mubarak and Rahman Sheikh said that the Haj mission had some challenges to tackle with regards serving of food for pilgrims in Madinah. The Haj mission had contracted Saudia Airlines Catering Co./Makarem Bakkah Co. for providing food for 60,000 pilgrims while Mukhtara Co./Bathawi Catering Co. won the contract for providing food for the remaining 40,000 pilgrims in Madinah. But on the first day of the arrival of the pilgrims (Aug. 16), Saudia Catering pulled out of their contractual obligations in the 11th hour. They insisted that they couldn't offer fresh food but only frozen one. When they failed to fulfill their contractual obligations, the mission had a tough time to find out two new caterers. “We reached a deal with two new companies — Thuryya and Al-Salam. They are providing food together with Mukhtara, which is among the best catering companies and the only company that we picked from last year's companies,” said Rahman Sheikh adding that the Haj mission had refunded many pilgrims when they demanded their money back in the event of failure of provision of food on time. Around 140 staffers are engaged in serving food for pilgrims staying at 70 buildings, he said. A total of 505 out of 546 officials have come from India to serve the pilgrims. So far 15 pilgrims, including three from private groups, have died, and of this one pilgrim died in an accident in Madinah, Rahman Sheikh added.
Indian volunteer directs pilgrims to their accommodation near the courtyards of the Grand Mosque.
