Saudi Gazette report

MINA — Deputy Minister of Hajj and Umrah Dr. Abdelfattah Mashat said that the authorities have decided to do the grouping of pilgrims for their departure from Mina to the Grand Mosque in Makkah on two days of Friday and Saturday (Dhul Hijjah 12 and 13).

The pilgrims will be divided proportionately so as to avoid any congestion at the Jamarat Bridge in Mina as well as to ensure their smooth movement to the Grand Mosque to perform the Tawaf Al-Wida (farewell circumambulation), he said while noting that these plans had been approved and implemented successfully during the full capacity Hajj seasons before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

“These plans gave great impact and positive results by classifying the batches of pilgrims over different slots of time. This grouping plan would contribute to providing the highest levels of safety and security for pilgrims, and avoiding overcrowding while performing the stoning ritual on the Jamrat Bridge,” he said.

Regarding the Jamarat stoning mechanism, the deputy minister said that the mechanism relies on scheduling the stoning ritual at Jamarat that began from early morning of Wednesday, Dhul Hijjah 10. Referring to the arrangements for the smooth conduct of the stoning ritual, Mashat said that the path has been designated for pilgrims arriving via the Mashaer Train to the Mina station near the Jamarat Bridge, and upon their arrival they start performing the ritual and then move directly to their camps or go to the Grand Mosque in Makkah to perform Tawaf Al-Ifadah. He said that most of the pilgrims, who use the train, are domestic pilgrims and a portion of them are pilgrims from the South Asian countries.

The deputy minister said that all phases of the movement and ascendence of pilgrims on the holy sites were successful. “The phase of ascendence on the day of Tarwiyah from Makkah to Mina, and the subsequent ascendence on the Mount of Arafat, which completed at 10 am on Arafat Day, while the movement from Arafat to Muzdalifah started after the Maghrib prayer, and this continued until 1:00 am. All pilgrims proceeded to Muzdalifah in ease and according to the prescribed time plans and programs,” he said while noting that the schedule for the grouping of pilgrims would continue all the Tashreeq days from Thursday to Saturday (Dhul Hijjah 11-13).

Regarding the compliance of the companies with regard to the provision of services for pilgrims, Mashat said that the compliance rates are high. “There are some companies which failed to adhere to the schedules set for them, and their cases will be followed up after the Hajj season. Reports will be prepared with regard to their failure in rendering the required services,” he said.

Mashat said that the movement of the pilgrims to Jamarat and performance of their stoning ritual on the first day of Eid Al-Adha was smooth and orderly. There were no reports of overcrowding or stampede reported during the peak hours of stoning from 8 am to 10 am on Wednesday.

After finishing the stoning ritual on that day, they performed three other major rituals of the day - sacrifice of animals and performance of Tawaf Al-Ifadah and Sai between Safa and Marwa, he said noting that the pilgrims will spend on the first two or three days of Tashreeq in the tent city of Mina and perform the stoning ritual before leaving Mina on Friday or Saturday.