Saudi Arabia’s move to increase Haj quotas this year has been welcomed, after the number of pilgrims hit a 10-year low in 2016.
King Salman on Thursday approved a proposal to increase the number of pilgrims from inside and outside the Kingdom during this year’s season, which starts in late summer.
Mohammed Shahid Alam, consul of Haj and deputy consul general at the Indian Consulate in Jeddah, said restoring the quotas is good news for pilgrims.
Last year, around 136,000 Indian pilgrims came to perform Haj, down from 170,000 in 2012 after the government reduced the quota by 20 percent. The figure for this year is set to be declared after a ministerial meeting to be held later this month.
Sajid Yousfani, Pakistan’s director general for Haj, told Arab News that the news of restoring of quota is positive for the whole Muslim Ummah, or global community, and those waiting to perform Haj this year.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia imposed a 20 percent cut in the quota for foreign pilgrims, and a 50 percent cut for domestic pilgrims, to ensure safety during the expansion of the Grand Mosque.
The number of pilgrims will be gradually increased and restored to what it was five years ago, according to an official statement.
Meetings with heads of the Haj ministries across the world have been scheduled to discuss Haj 2017 preparations, and the number of pilgrims for this year from outside the Kingdom will be announced later.
Last year, 1,325,372 foreign and 537,537 domestic pilgrims performed Haj, making a total of 1,862,909 pilgrims. This was the lowest number of pilgrims recorded in the last 10 years.
More than 2.4 million Muslims performed the Haj pilgrimage in 2007, according to reports.
Crowd management at the Grand Mosque was the focus of a recent discussion at The Haj Research Institute of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Umm Al-Qura University.
Hamza Ghulman, the university’s dean, said that the meeting strengthened the relationship between research institutions and agencies working in the field of crowd management at the Grand Mosque and surrounding areas.
The participants discussed ways of developing mechanisms to control the movement of crowds and providing better services to guests during their stay in Saudi Arabia.Saudi Increase Haj Quotas in 1438
Ghulman said that several proposals, derived from observations made during the past Umrah and Haj seasons, were explored at the meeting.
Operational strategies to manage the flow of pilgrims in key areas were also activated, he said. The strategies focused on the safety of pilgrims’ on the roads leading to the Grand Mosque, inside the mosque, at entrances and gates.
Modern techniques in crowd management and ways of boosting coordination between teams on the field were also discussed the meeting, said the dean.Saudi Increase Haj Quotas in 1438
He called for effective cooperation between relevant authorities in enabling the research teams to monitor and analyze the crowd movement inside and outside the Grand Mosque and at the holy sites.
