RIYADH, 5 September 2007 — In a major move to ensure the safety of Haj pilgrims, the Kingdom will introduce a luggage storage facility near the Jamrat area. The idea is to avoid congestion in the stoning area, a senior government official told Arab News yesterday.
“Experience has shown that some of the unfortunate incidents in the stoning area are mainly due to pilgrims carrying their luggage while performing the rituals,” Habib M. Zein Al-Abideen, deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs, said. He was speaking at the conclusion of a three-day workshop on “Arrangements at the Jamrat area and Bridge during the Coming Haj Season.”
The delegates at the workshop also discussed matters relating to problems due to squatters in Mina, unregistered local pilgrims coming from various parts of the Kingdom and mobilization of pilgrims within the area.
More than 3 million pilgrims gather in the tent city of Mina every year for a period of three days to stone the devil and sleep overnight after staying in Arafat and Muzdalifah.
The deputy minister said that pilgrims would be told to keep their luggage in the new warehouse which will be large enough to store all their baggage. “They can carry their travel documents and other valuables in a backpack while performing the rituals on the pedestrian bridge. Officers at the warehouse will issue receipts to the pilgrims for the luggage and they will be returned to them.”
Al-Abideen said the idea of the workshop was to ensure a smooth flow of pilgrims during the performance of rituals in the Jamrat area.
Locker services are currently available in Makkah and Madinah. There are 3,000 lockers maintained by Al-Arqam Establishment in Makkah and 2,000 in Madinah.
Al-Abideen explained that this year there would be another additional floor to the existing two at the Jamrat Bridge. “Each level can accommodate about 130,000 pilgrims per hour,” he said, stressing that the Haj groups would have to adhere exactly to the schedule given to their respective groups to come to the Jamrat according to a timetable drawn up by the Saudi authorities.
“For each group of 1,000 pilgrims we have given a set time to visit the stoning area and we hope each one will cooperate with the authorities to ensure a smooth flow of human traffic in the area.”
He said the authorities would field more than 1,000 government officials near the camps and on the streets in order to ensure the pilgrims’ movement according to the schedules given to group leaders.
“Pilgrims will not be allowed to go to the Jamrat Bridge when they please.
A new development this year will be a shuttle bus service to Jamrat from places such as Al-Aziziya, Muzdalifah and Al-Muasim,” the deputy minister said, pointing out that this would ease pilgrim traffic on the way to the stoning area.
More than 50 coaches from each bus terminal will make the trip to and from the Jamrat Bridge.
