Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — India's low-cost domestic airline SpiceJet will join three other airlines in transporting Haj pilgrims this year, according to Indian Deputy Consul General and Haj Consul Mohammed Shahid Alam. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, he said that the experiment of uniform baggage system introduced last year has been dropped and that food won't be served to pilgrims at their lodgings in Madinah. He also unveiled plans to introduce e-payment system for the first time while hiring buildings this year. A total of 136,020 Indian pilgrims will come to perform Haj this year. Highly upbeat of the best services being extended by the Indian Haj Mission, Alam said that his aim is to maintain that level and making the necessary improvements in areas that are required. He said the preparations and arrangements for Haj 2016 are going on in full swing. "Almost all buildings required in the green category in the Central Haram Area (Markaziyah) and Aziziyah have been inspected. All the three building selection committees had completed their inspections and eventually the process of hiring of buildings has been started," he said. Alam said that, like last year, very good buildings have been selected in the green category, complying fully with the requirements set by the Ministry of Haj and Umrah. "Apart from maintaining the benchmark, we are working on further improvement this year. There are new buildings, in addition to the best buildings that we had last year. We are working closely on the system of e-payment to be applicable in hiring at least a section of buildings for the first time this year." The Indian Haj Mission is on top of other missions in introducing several high-tech facilities and services for pilgrims such as the state-of-the-art navigation system and many other mobile apps. "We are in the process of introducing some additional features this year. They are value added services based on our past experiences, in addition to the basic features made available in previous years," Alam said, declining to give details. There will be 21 embarkation points for pilgrims. The national carrier, Air India, will transport pilgrims from 11 points while Saudi Arabian Airlines and Flynas will carry pilgrims from four points each. SpiceJet, which is joining this year for the first time, will transport pilgrims from two points. Draft schedule has been submitted and it is in the process of approval by the General Authority of Civil Aviation and the Airport Authority of India. Those pilgrims who arrive in Jeddah will leave from Madinah and vice versa. No food will be served to pilgrims at their lodgings in Madinah, Alam said while pointing to the difficulties faced in the 11th hour during last Haj. "It was really a headache for the mission due to the failure on the part of caterers to provide food on time even after streamlining all the arrangements and preparations for Haj operation by the Indian mission." The consul said the experiment of uniform baggage that was introduced for Haj of 2015 had some flaws. Firstly, there were difficulties in identification of baggage. There were cases of tags being missed or lost from some baggage and hence Hajis found it difficult to identify their baggage. There is also problem of space. Hajis can carry a maximum of 45 kg in two bags, each not exceeding 23 kg plus 10 kg in hand baggage. But some Hajis want to carry small bags. They don't prefer uniform baggage. So the Indian Haj committee recommended that 2014 model standard baggage will be reinstated this year. Alam sees the sublime mission to serve Haj pilgrims as really fantastic. "Being Haj consul, I am fully occupied with the matters of serving pilgrims throughout day and night, and even at leisure time, my thoughts revolve around any scope for improvement in this area or the other as it would benefit hundreds of thousands of the Guests of God," he said. "This is a highly gratifying experience which provides a unique spiritual experience plus self-realization. With the blessing of Almighty Allah, I work to the best of my ability to serve the pilgrims," said Alam, who witnessed Haj operation last year, several weeks before assuming charge.
