JEDDAH, 28 February — The Haj Ministry has launched an investigation into 54 domestic pilgrim establishments after complaints that they had failed to fulfill their contractual obligations to the pilgrims.
“We will take action against these establishments if the charges against them are proved,” Haj Minister Iyad Madani told Al-Madinah daily. He said, however, that there was a 40 percent drop in the number of complaints against pilgrim establishments compared to last year.
The ministry had licensed 440 establishments this year to extend their services to domestic pilgrims.
Madani called upon domestic pilgrim establishments intending to merge with one another to approach the Commerce Ministry as quickly as possible to complete the procedures ahead of next Haj.
More than 1.4 million pilgrims had come from 170 countries for Haj this year, he said. About 45 percent of the pilgrims were women. He pointed out that 88 percent of the pilgrims traveled by plane, 10 percent by land and two percent by sea.
South Asians represented 29 percent of the total foreign pilgrims, while Arabs accounted for 24 percent and Southeast Asians 20 percent.
The pilgrims consumed about 305 billion gallons of water, Madani said. They made more than 10 million phone calls. About 75,000 pilgrims needed medical care during their stay in the Kingdom.
