Indian consulate here is conducting special Urdu classes for Haj volunteers. The classes, taken by an Indian International School Jeddah (IISJ) teacher, are being held in cooperation with the Urdu Academy here, Sayeed Ahmed Baba told Saudi Gazette in an exclusive interview on Sunday. Classes are being held for two-and-a-half hours each Friday and will continue for a month, he said. “This time we will increase the number of local volunteers. Our Muallim brothers are very active in this regard,” he said. “We have a large number of volunteers mainly from South India and after this class they will not only look after south Indian pilgrims but also other Urdu-speaking pilgrims,” he said. “This is the first batch where we have 30 students and after that the next batch is ready to start,” he explained. Approval for the additional quota for Indian pilgrims will come next month, the Consul General hoped. Haj authorities in the Kingdom, he said, conducted a survey of different countries and took a decision regarding the additional quota. “We need about 600 buildings to accommodate Indian pilgrims. Till now about 80 percent of the required residential buildings have been hired in Makkah. In Madina, we have hired all the needed buildings,” he said. In Madina, all residential buildings are located inside 850 meters of the Prophet's Mosque and there is only one category of accommodation. In Makkah, the categories have been reduced to three now, he informed. In fact, he said, in Makkah geographically there are only two categories, green one in Aziziah District and white category of 13,000 pilgrims. “We have got maximum buildings in the Central Area in Makkah,” he said. “Today among all the countries we are number 1 as far as our position is concerned, we took the best of the buildings for our pilgrims this year,” he said. The Consul General said about 32,000 pilgrims housed in Aziziah District will be provided with round-the-clock transportation services for the Grand Mosque and back. Just like last year the service of shuttle buses will be provided. “When it is closer to prayer time every second bus will arrive every 10 minutes, specially on Fridays,” he said. “There will be no fixed timings, as our policy is to keep buses plying all the time, especially during the prayer times, ” he explained. Commenting on the recommendations of a workshop on swine flu that elderly people should skip this year's Haj because of the pandemic, the Consul General said nothing has been communicated to the consulate officially. But, he said, the Indian government will take all medical precautions. The Saudi authorities will also take precautions and detections of swine flu at the airport,” he said. “Those found infected by the disease will be quarantined till their complete recovery,” he said.
