Digitized system ‘behind smooth Umrah season’

The Haj Ministry has been successful in implementing a well-planned digitized system to ensure that the last of the millions of Umrah pilgrims who arrived in the country left the Kingdom at their scheduled time of departure.
“This Umrah season, in which 5.1 million pilgrims arrived out of 5.3 million visas issued, was a great success because of the Haj Ministry’s implementation of regulations at the orders of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah,” Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.
The Umrah season ended on Aug. 8. The ministry ordered that all pilgrims leave the country on or before Aug. 22.
The practice of Umrah pilgrims illegally staying back in the Kingdom was one of the major causes that led to the presence of illegal workers in the country. The Haj Ministry has been working in tandem with other ministries to ensure that all pilgrims left the country after their permitted period of stay.
“The ministry’s digitized services with high precision resulted in greater control of the pilgrims’ movements on the one hand and simplification of procedures for pilgrims on the other,” Hajjar said.
He added that the ministry insisted that the departure of each pilgrim should be through the entry point where they arrived and where electronic registration executed supplying data about the arrival and return of the pilgrim.
Electronic records were also prepared to show the time and flight of each pilgrim’s return.
All pilgrim companies were also notified and reminded online of the departure time of each pilgrim, he said.
The ministry’s electronic monitoring system kept a watch on the airlines that brought in the pilgrims, he added.
The ministry also made sure that pilgrim service companies made arrangements for the return of pilgrims under their responsibility, including taking them to airports on time.
The ministry also established an electronic linkage with the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) and the Saudi Arabian Airlines to keep track of the schedules of planes. Any airline that failed to return the pilgrims it brought in are also subject to punitive measures. It is with this aim that GACA insists on receiving a financial guarantee from pilgrim transporting airlines companies.
The minister also lauded the services of Interior Minister Prince Muhammad bin Naif, chairman of the Higher Haj Committee; Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, chairman of the Central Haj Committee; and Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman, chairman of the Madinah Haj Committee, to make the pilgrimage comfortable and safe.