Right of reply Response from the Hajj Committee regarding Mina arrangements

By Reyaz Mihular - Chairman, Hajj & Umrah Committee  

Our attention has been drawn to a series of articles on print and social media aimed at portraying the conditions provided to pilgrims at Mina as being well below what was promised. Let us address each of the issues mentioned in the various articles.   

1. The Hajj Committee had no choice in the selection of the Service Provider (SP) Rehlat e Manafe, as they were the assigned service provider for the camp we were allocated. All our efforts to get the SP changed to Al Bait (our last year’s SP) were rejected by the Saudi Office for Hajj & Umrah (SOHU).   

2. Although the draft contract provided by the Rehlat offered us Category A services, we paid only for category B services. In fact, we paid around 373 SR less than what we paid last year for Category B services. So, the allegation that pilgrims were charged premium rates for category A services is false.   

3. Although Rehlat did offer some elements of category A services such as wider sofa beds with separators to ensure privacy, ample supply of snacks, fruits, juices, ice cream, yoghurt, tea/coffee, water, etc., all through the day (last year Al Baith didn’t offer unlimited supplies as we received this year), the food on offer was not aligned to our palate, comprising largely of Arabic food with lots of meat, etc, and quality of service delivery was not up to our expectations.

There was no question of category C as such tents don’t come with sofa beds but mattresses and packeted meals and water without all the other additions that are provided under the B category. The writer obviously has no idea of what the C category looks like to make such a statement.   

4. Addressing the issue of long queues for buffet, the Hajj Committee had mandated four buffet services points to cater to the pilgrims. Unknown to us, two of the group leaders had instructed the service provider to provide their pilgrims (around 1200 pilgrims) with food packs. Consequently, the SP had reduced the buffet service points to two to cater to the balance pilgrims.

However, since the food packs offered did not have the fruits, desert, juices, etc, most of the food pack recipients also joined the queues to get the balance stuff which led to the long queues as there were now only two service points. No sooner we were advised of this, we took immediate steps to stop the food packs and directed the SP to revert to the buffet arrangement with four service points from the 2nd day onwards, which to a large extent addressed the issue of long queues.   

5. As for the toilet issue, Sri Lankans were housed in two adjoining camps in Zone 2. One camp housed 2900 pilgrims with 36 toilets and the other 600 in the adjoining camp which also had 36 toilets but was shared with the Indians who were also housed in that camp. The ratio of pilgrims to toilets in our camp was 80:1, while the Mina average as per numbers reported in the press averaged 100:1 (ie 17,000 toilets for approx 1.7Mn pilgrims)   

6. While we do agree that the above ratio is not fully acceptable, there is nothing that we or the SP can do anything about  as they come under the authority of ‘Kidana’ (Saudi authority for infrastructure in the Mina area). Our various requests through the SP to Kidana for modifications such as taking out the showers from the toilets, increasing the number of taps for ablution were flatly rejected. Those who have been to Hajj over the years will testify to the fact that the toilets issue is always the most difficult challenge due to the inadequacy of toilets. While the Saudi authorities are making attempts to address this by building double storied toilets, such efforts are taking time as the drainage infrastructure has to be strengthened to accommodate the increased number of toilets. And additionally, all these toilets are only used for five days of the year and remain unused until the next Hajj season commences! Last year, fortunately a double storied public washroom was located opposite our camp and several of our pilgrims used that facility to ease the pressure on the toilets within the camp.

This year, we did not have such a facility in the immediate vicinity. It is because of these issues and the fact that over 1.7Mn pilgrims have to be accommodated within the limited space available in Mina, these five days are considered the most challenging days of the Hajj Pilgrimage.   

7. The articles also states that Hajj Committee Members were provided with VIP tents with separate washroom facilities. This is a blatant falsehood as all Hajj Committee Members including the Deputy Minister, Sri Lanka Ambassador to KSA and Consular General based in Jeddah stayed in a tent in the same camp and used the same toilets and washroom facilities that was available to all and pilgrims will testify to this. This is a mischievous piece of misinformation designed to draw the wrath of the public on the Hajj Committee Members   

8. The Hajj Committee does not take money from pilgrims for the Hajj pilgrimage other than the Rs. 5,000/- registration fee. All other transactions that pilgrims enter into regarding the pilgrimage is with the operators. All we do is to set the minimum standards and ensure that the operators fulfill their promises to the pilgrims. The contract with the SP is entered into between the six Munazims and the SP Rehlat e Manafe.   

9. As mentioned previously, the Hajj Committee this year, abolished the quota system, through which several unscrupulous operators traded in the said quotas, which added to the price that pilgrims had to pay. This action without doubt badly affected those operators who made a living by selling these quotas. The abolishing of the quota system reduced the minimum starting prices of Hajj packages this year by approx. Rs. 350,000/-.   

10. These disgruntled operators went to court seeking a reversal of the abolishing of the quota and failed. They have now resorted to slinging mud at the Hajj Committee using unsubstantiated allegations and innuendos, with a view to forcing the Hajj Committee Members, who all work in a honorary capacity, to leave in disgust so that they can achieve their objective of regaining their corrupt quota system. 

The last statement in the Daily Mirror calling upon the Hajj Committee Members to resign over this supposed fiasco, reveals their sinister motives.   

The deadlines for Hajj 2027 has been further advanced this year with the camp retention window advanced to July 29th to Aug 13th. This, as well as the SOHU’s requirement for one Munazim (group leader) as opposed to the six we had this year, poses fresh challenges, which the Committee will sit down to address within the next week or so.

The Hajj Committee will also use the request for feedback from the SOHU on Hajj 2026 to raise particularly the toilet issue and the urgent need for us to choose the service provider of our choice as opposed to being foisted with a service provider that they had assigned to the camp.   

Members of the Hajj Committee have been selected leveraging on the specific skills each of them possess and I am particularly privileged to lead such a team which is giving their services completely on an honorary basis.