MAKKAH: The Tawafa Establishment for Arab Pilgrims said it has opened a new troubleshooting section to solve any unforeseen problem related to pilgrim accommodation, transportation or any other matter related to Haj.
“As part of our policy of offering improved services, this year we have opened special troubleshooting department in our Tawafa establishment,” said Faiq Bayyari, chairman of the board of directors of the Tawafa Establishment for Arab Pilgrims, in an interview with Arab News.
This special unit comprising 10 members is under the direct supervision of Talal Mahdar, vice chairman of the Tawafa establishment.
The other new departments in the establishment include an emergency and safety department and luxury service department and a follow-up unit to evaluate the establishment’s field operations on a daily basis, Bayyari said.
The establishment has employed more than 2,000 workers to serve 350,000 pilgrims from Arab countries not including the countries of the Gulf region.
A serious problem the establishment is facing this year is the refusal of several pilgrims to stay in the buildings allocated for them.
Selecting residential accommodations for the pilgrims, obviously, is not the task of the establishment.
It is the official Haj delegations of the Arab countries that selected the buildings for their respective pilgrims.
“But if the pilgrims refuse to stay in the officially selected buildings it creates an extremely difficult situation especially when no unoccupied spare buildings are available,” the Tawafa official said. Some pilgrims, particularly aged people, hate to stay in buildings away from the Grand Mosque as they yearn to remain close to the Grand Mosque and participate in all the obligatory prayers and other supererogatory prayers. On the other hand, a number of the old buildings close to the mosque have been pulled down as part of the ongoing expansion of piazza of the Grand Mosque and other projects.
However, the delegations are striving, in collaboration with the establishment, to solve the problem. Commenting on the issue of some Arab pilgrims illegally staying back after the Haj, Bayyari said, “The most important task of the establishment after the completion of the Haj is to make sure that every pilgrim leaves the Kingdom on their scheduled dates. In the past two years, none of our pilgrims overstayed after the pilgrimage.”
Until two years ago, each year not less than 10,000 Arab pilgrims used to stay back illegally, he added.
The establishment has plans to construct two building as part of its efforts to diversify its income. The first building will be close to the Keddi Roundabout covering an area of 1,800 square meters while the second one is a 4,000 square meters commercial complex project in the Seban Plots.