RIYADH – To facilitate the pilgrims and address their complaints, Pakistan has set up two control rooms in Saudi Arabia as the Hajj season draws near.
The control rooms have been set up separately in Makkah and Madinah as thousands of Pakistanis continue to land in the holy kingdom ahead of the annual Islamic pilgrimage.
The control rooms would operate round the clock and the pilgrims would be provided a number to contact in case they need any assistance.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony’s spokesperson confirmed that a live dashboard has been established in the control room under the complaint management system to show all the details of complaints received and solved, the movement of the pilgrims and other general queries.
Interestingly, during the last seven days, 195 complaints received through the Pak Hajj mobile app have been resolved, and 25 pilgrims who lost their way to their respective destinations in the holy cities were guided.
As Pakistani Hajj pilgrims were currently arriving in Madinah, the control room in the city is more active compared to the one in Makkah, Umer Butt was quoted as saying by Arab News.
The official added that these pilgrims will go to Makkah on May 17 after their eight-day stay in Madinah.
As far as the staff strength is concerned, the Makkah control room comprises only eight people as Pakistani pilgrims have not started to arrive in the holy city yet. On the other hand, 54 personnel, and 18 Hajj assistants (Muaveneen) are associated with the control room in Madinah.
During the ongoing year, 179,210 Pakistani Muslims will perform Hajj under government and private schemes for which the country kicked off a month-long flight operation last week.
The authorities have introduced the Short Hajj package for the pilgrims while the Sponsorship Scheme is also valid for this year as well.
As far as the Long Hajj is concerned, it would encompass 38-42 days with 8 days stay in Madinah and those flying from the South region i.e. Karachi, and Sukkhur would have to pay Rs 10,65,000 while those from other cities i.e. Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Sialkot, Faisalabad would pay Rs 10,75,000.
For Sponsorship scheme applicants, the cost is $3765 for the South Region while it is $ 3800 for the North Region for those opting for the Long Hajj package.
For the Short Hajj package, the cost for regular Hajj applicants is Rs 11,40,000 for the South region while the cost is Rs 11,50,000 for the North region; the Hajj would continue for 20-25 days under this scheme.
For the Sponsorship Scheme, the cost for Short Hajj is $ 4015 USD for the South region and $ 4050 for North region.
