The Indian Haj mission in Saudi Arabia deserves praise for conducting a smooth and successful Haj for Indian pilgrims. Arrangements for pilgrims have improved and the whole mechanism has been streamlined over the past several years. As we know, Haj is not a gathering of people at one place but a huge movement of people between different locations like Madinah, Makkah, Mina, Muzdalifa and Arafat. Handling a growing number of pilgrims every year and making arrangement for their housing, transportation, medical and other necessities in a foreign country is a Herculean task. There have been lapses, as pointed out by some Indian Haji’s but we must not overlook prevailing situations.
All of us know that due to construction work in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, the nearby hotels and places of accommodation have been demolished and the rates of hotels have almost doubled. So the Indian pilgrims had to be accommodated in Aziziah district due to the paucity of accommodation near the Haram and to financial constraints.
The transport vehicles deployed by the Indian Haj mission to ferry the pilgrims from Aziziah to Haram sometimes got stuck in the traffic jams. These are some observations that must be taken into consideration in planning for the next Haj. — Mir Gazanfar Ali Zaki, Jeddah
