MAKKAH, 24 December 2007 — Minister of Haj Fouad Al-Farsy has ordered the Tawafa establishments not to transport any of their pilgrims to the airport or seaport long before their scheduled departure time.
In a statement issued yesterday, the minister warned that Tawafa establishments that dump their pilgrims off at the airport before scheduled reporting times would face punitive measures. The groups that fail to bring pilgrims in time for their departure will also attract punishments, the statement said.
“The move is aimed at preventing the long hours of clustering and crowding at the airport and seaport similar to what happened in previous Haj seasons,” said the statement.
Now, Tawafa groups can only drop their pilgrims off on the day of departure. In the past, pilgrims would camp out, sometimes for more than one day, clogging up Jeddah’s already crowded airport. The motivation for these organizations is to save money by leaving their pilgrims at the airport as early as possible after the Haj.
Meanwhile, Ali Hassan Nagur, head of the Transport Committee at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) and the executive manager of Al-Jazirah Transport Company, told Arab News that the Ministry of Haj has initiated new procedures to smooth the transportation process.
The new rules include a ban on transportation of pilgrims between Makkah and Madinah at night, Nagur said. “No buses are allowed to begin their journey from Maghrib prayer until dawn,” said Nagur.
The ban comes as a number of buses transporting pilgrims at night met with fatal accidents on the Makkah-Madinah highway over the years. On Dec. 15, five Indian pilgrims were killed and 19 others injured when a bus carrying 46 pilgrims overturned on the highway near Rabigh Sitara, 150 km from Makkah. The pilgrims were returning from Madinah.
According to Nagur, bus drivers are also being subjected to doping tests. It is believed that some drivers take stimulants (most commonly the widely abused Captagon tablets) to help them stay awake during night trips. “Thirty-five bus drivers were randomly selected and underwent medical examination,” he said. “All the results came negative.”
Nagur said during the testing, which took up to eight hours, the buses parked at the pilgrim terminal and in front of hotels in Makkah causing traffic jams.
