MAKKAH: The Tawafa Establishment for Arab Countries yesterday organized a meeting to familiarize field officials with the activities of the police and Civil Defense when pilgrims carry out the stoning ritual on the Jamrat Bridge during the annual Haj.
The meeting, which was held at the Grand Coral Hotel in Makkah, was supervised by the Haj Ministry’s Haj and Umrah Training Center. The event was also attended by the undersecretary for planning and development at the Haj Ministry and senior security officials.
Faiq Bayyari, chairman of the Tawafa Establishment, said the establishment and its field offices would adhere to the schedules fixed for the movement of pilgrims to guarantee the safety of people.
“We have been organizing intensified awareness programs, such as lectures and workshops, for both officials and pilgrims. We are repeatedly telling pilgrims not to carry bags or other things when going to the Jamrat Bridge,” he said. “The establishment this year introduced free wheelchairs for aged and disabled pilgrims going to the bridge.”
Speaking on the occasion, Maj. Gen. Saad Al-Khelaiwi, assistant commander for pedestrian management, Haj Security Forces, said, “Careful organization of pilgrims when they head to the Jamrat Bridge is one of the basic requirements to guarantee the safety of pilgrims. They should avoid crowded locations as a first step to ensure their safety.”
Attendees were shown video presentations of routes to be taken by pilgrims and the Civil Defense guidelines to be followed by pilgrims on different levels of the bridge.
The Passport Department said yesterday that more than one million pilgrims had arrived in the Kingdom so far from different parts of the world for the annual pilgrimage that begins tentatively on Dec. 6, the Saudi Press Agency said.
According to Maj. Gen. Salim Al-Belaihed, director of the Passport Department, of this number, 1,008,655 pilgrims have come by air, 51,635 by land and 12,871 by sea.
