Sunday 08 / September / 2024
Muscat: As many as 14,000 pilgrims from Oman are given approval to join their brethren from other parts of the globe during the 1446 AH Hajj/pilgrimage season, according to the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This was unveiled at a media meeting held on Wednesday by Omani Hajj Mission for the 1445 AH season at the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs.
Sultan Said Al Hinai, who headed the Omani Hajj Mission during the 1445 AH season, said that the mission utilized its full share of 14,000 chances offered to pilgrims from Oman (at a rate of 100%).
Giving a breakup, Al Hinai said that the numbers of those who performed pilgrimage in the recent Hajj season were as follows: 89.2% of pilgrims performed the ritual as a religious duty (since they had the ability and resources to perform it), 1.7% of pilgrims performed Hajj as a “will” on behalf of the disadvantaged or the deceased and 9.1% of pilgrims performed Hajj as a form of voluntary worship.
Al Hinai explained that 49.9% of the pilgrims in 1445 AH were women and 50.1% were men.
He added that electronic Hajj system figures indicate that 83.2% of Omani pilgrims were in “youth” category (within the age group of 18-60 years), while 16.8% belonged to the category of people aged more than 60 years.
Al Hinai pointed out that the average cost of Hajj by air stood at OMR2,137 compared to OMR2,054 in 1444 AH. The average cost of Hajj by land stood at OMR1,319 compared to OMR1,367 in the 1444 AH season.
Al Hinai said that the mission was able to streamline the cost of the “service package” in the Mina and Arafat shrines and that it introduced improvements in the services it offered, noting that a survey of pilgrims showed a high rate of satisfaction with the services they received from mission members. This included satisfaction with the specifications of the tents at Arafat camp (up by 20 points to 91%) and Mina camp (up to 75% compared to 66% in the 1444 season), he said.
He added that the pilgrims’ opinion poll index showed 97% satisfaction with medical services offered at camps in Mina and Arafat, noting that the mission served as many as 5,616 people registered in its medical records.
Al Hinai stressed that the “Plan of Sequencing” travelers that was approved by the Omani Hajj Mission for land pilgrims succeeded in serving more than 5,500 pilgrims within 48 hours. The Arafat Day management plan also achieved an average satisfaction rate of 92%, while the success of the services management plan in the Mina camp stood at 81.5%, according to pilgrims’ opinions about 12 regular items of such services.
Al Hinai said that a number of individuals were found to be forging Hajj cards, during the 1445 AH Hajj season, leading to the cancellation of Hajj approvals. Key challenges during the recent pilgrimage season included cases of transportation of pilgrims without permits, the entry of group buses to Makkah without “sequencing permits” and some instances of power outage in the Mina camp, he added.
