The authorities have turned their full attention to the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madina after about 2.5 million pilgrims on Thursday concluded their Haj rituals. A fraction of the pilgrims who stayed on in Mina to perform the obligatory ritual of stoning the devil on Thursday headed to Makkah and Madina after the peaceful completion of their ritual. Buses and other vehicles of local pilgrims and Haj agencies jammed all the roads leading to the Grand Mosque the preceding night as over 1.6 million people headed to perform Tawaf Al-Wida (Farewell Tawaf) to complete their Haj rituals. Vehicles were barred from entering the central area to give more room to pedestrian pilgrims. This provided a golden opportunity for those offering wheelchair services to earn quick money as they charged pilgrims about SR400 to transport them to the Grand Mosque. Tawaf on wheelchairs on the first floor is costing a pilgrim between SR800 to SR1,000. “I have earned about SR1,400, but I spent more than 10 hours to get this money; it is very crowded and it requires a lot of effort,” Ali Al-Dadi, said sitting on his wheelchair to take a rest. Security forces deployed more than 6,000 policemen to monitor the flow of pilgrims to Al-Haram. About 800 cameras have been installed in the Grand Mosque to monitor the millions of pilgrims. Roads Safety Department and Red Crescent teams have been stationed at all roads leading to Madina to deal with any emergency. The health status of the pilgrims was fine, the Ministry of Health announced in its final report. The Haj was free from any epidemic, according to Minister of Health Dr. Hamad Al-Mane. The health minister said in the light of reports submitted by various teams, “all pilgrims are enjoying good health.”
