Ministry instructs Haj service establishments to keep environment clean at holy sites

The Ministry of Haj has urged Haj service companies and establishments to maintain the cleanliness of pilgrim tents and the areas surrounding the holy sites in a bid to ensure an environmentally clean Haj season.
The ministry also directed Haj service establishments to collaborate with the Makkah Municipality in order to maintain high levels of hygiene at the holy sites.
Managing waste in holy places, especially in Mina, is a tough challenge for the municipality. The holy city produces an estimated 1 million tons of waste annually. Efforts are underway to establish a solid-waste processing plant in Makkah, with investments estimated to reach SR3 billion, a recent report stated.
A circular issued by the Ministry of Haj advised Haj service establishments to benefit from the cleaning facilities available at Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah. The companies should make sure that their workers deposit waste in compression boxes or take the waste to the nearest dumping facility and avoid littering around their tents or other places, the circular statement read.
A special garbage disposal system has also been put in place in Arafat. The municipality has established programs to train cleaning workers to operate compression garbage boxes. The municipality is responsible for gathering garbage and for disposing of it.
In another development, the Haj Ministry has issued a warning to domestic Haj service companies saying they would be severely punished if they host or transport any pilgrim without a valid Haj permit in the upcoming season.
“Domestic Haj companies are under the obligation to ensure that each pilgrim they are transporting carries a valid Haj permit before they embark on their journey,” according to the ministry’s statement. Large numbers of illegal pilgrims entering the Kingdom potentially disrupts services and utilities set up for a set number of documented pilgrims.
The disruption of the Mashair Railway service last year, for instance, was attributed to the unforeseen encroachment of the railway facilities by illegal pilgrims. According to reports, close to 1.4 million people performed Haj last year without permits.
Authorities are determined to stop the entry of illegal pilgrims. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, governor of Makkah and head of the Central Haj Committee, has said expatriates violating Haj rules would be deported immediately and banned from returning to the Kingdom for 10 years.
Maj. Gen. Ayed Al-Harbi, commander of the Passport Department’s Haj force, said advanced technologies would be deployed to detect fake Haj permits unlike in previous years.