JEDDAH: Indian pilgrims coming for Haj are being made aware of the Saudi guidelines on swine flu. The Haj Council of India and tour operators through which a total of 160,000 pilgrims are expected for this year’s annual pilgrimage have been apprized of the guidelines, a top official at the Consulate General of India said Wednesday.
“As suggested by the Saudi authorities, the organizers are taking steps to avoid the sick and pregnant,” B.S. Mubarak, consul (Haj and P&I), told Arab News Wednesday. The Haj Council of India (HCI) is sending 115,000 pilgrims, while the remaining 45,000 will come through tour operators. The total number of pilgrims will be the same as last year, although a request for 10,000 more is under consideration.
Mubarak said accommodation for 85 percent of HCI Haj pilgrims had been finalized in Makkah and contracts signed for a similar arrangement in Madinah. “We are ahead of time this year compared to only 40 percent of our accommodation requirement we reached around this time last year,” Mubarak said.
The incoming HCI Haj pilgrims will be divided into three categories as against five categories last year. This time, those with green cards will stay around a kilometer from the Holy Haram, those with white cards 1001 to 1,600 meters away and the remaining will be accommodated in Aziziah, which is a few kilometers away.
“We have hired better buildings this time and avoided those causing congestion,” he said, adding that transport arrangements have also been made for 32,000 of the pilgrims staying in Aziziah.
Asked whether there will be drop-outs due to the economic slowdown or pandemic swine flu, Mubarak said: “Such factors don’t come in the way of Indian pilgrims. As it stands all of the registered pilgrims are enthusiastic to perform the pilgrimage.”
About the pilgrimage cost, he said it might slightly go up due to a “slight increase” in accommodation rates and also the dollar-rupee exchange rate. “A dollar was about 40 Indian rupees last year, while it is now around 50 rupees,” he said.
