55 PIA scouts to serve pilgrims

The Pakistan International Airlines Boy Scout Association (PIA-BSA) will send 55 PIA scouts to the Kingdom on Wednesday to serve pilgrims at Haj camps in Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah.
The scouts, known as "Khaddam ul Hujjaj," will assist pilgrims from Pakistan and will also help ensure the timely departure of PIA post-Haj flights from Jeddah,” said a statement issued by the association on Monday.
Scouts will also assist and guide Hajis at boarding and immigration and at departure lounges.
PIA-BSA is a fast-growing, independent organization which engages its members in character-building activities. It aims to train and develop its members through training and youth programs in line with the social values and corporate requirements of PIA.
PIA-BSA provides assistance to the management team at PIA and other aviation-related organizations involved in Haj operations at domestic stations, as well as in Saudi Arabia.
About 142,000 pilgrims from Pakistan will be performing Haj this year. Almost 50 percent of these pilgrims have already arrived in the Kingdom. While 85,696 pilgrims will be performing Haj under the government scheme, another 57,347 will perform Haj with private operators.
Pakistani Embassy officials said that 125 residential buildings will house the 86,000 pilgrims. The Pakistan Haj Medical Mission has set up a 40-bed hospital in Makkah and another hospital in Madinah, as well as setting up field dispensaries.
Syed Abu Akif, director general of the Pakistan Haj Mission, recently said that the mission had deployed 1,788 personnel, including 696 local Haj volunteers, to serve pilgrims.
Around 1,271 personnel are stationed in Makkah, while 198 have been deployed in Madinah.