The National Hajj Committee (NHC) has announced that pilgrims of last year?s holy journey to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can start picking up their goods from the Hajj Village in Accra as the last batch of items have successfully arrived in Ghana.
The goods, which was contained in two 40 and a 20 feet container was successfully cleared at the Tema harbor yesterday by officials of the NHC led by its Executive Secretary, Nashiru Abdulai, and carted to the Hajj village.
In the interest of transparency and to ensure a smooth identification and collection process, Mr Abdulai disclosed to The Al-Hajj in an interview that all pilgrims who do not have their goods in the previous consignment that came should come along with their travelling passports, tags and receipts for identification and collection.
He stated ?this is the last batch of goods for this year?s Hajj, we have cleared some at the port already and the owners have come for them?essentially these once are for the over 1, 380 pilgrims that came with the last flight?we are appealing to the owners to come with their particulars and pick them up,? he stated.
He added that for easy identification, the goods have been assigned with tags, names of owners, places where the pilgrims hail from and phone numbers of the pilgrims on them, which he said aided officials of the NHC and owners of the goods to identify them without going through any hustle when the first consignment came.
?Because the pilgrims have their details on their goods, as soon as they come with their passports, tags and receipts, they are able to identify it easily,?we didn?t face any difficulties when pilgrims came for their goods the last time when we announced that it was ready for collection and I believe the same process will be followed,? Mr Abdulai noted.
This year?s hajj organization under the Chairmanship of Alhaji Abdul Rahim Tanko proved to be one of the most peaceful and hitch free Hajj in recent times. Unlike previous years, especially under the New Patriotic Party, were pilgrims were left at the airport under the mercy of the weather for so long, this year was totally different.
Issues of missing luggage and left over of pilgrims was absent in this year?s organization and indeed, some leftover pilgrims of 2012 were given the opportunity to embark on the holy trip.
The fare for this year?s Hajj was increased from $3100 to $3450 to cater for what organizers explained as services for airfare to Jeddah and back, airport taxes, accommodation in Madina and Mecca.
Others are health care and insurance, and transportation from Medina to Mecca-Mina and Arafat, then back to Mina, Mecca and finally to Jeddah for the return journey back home.
Under the new arrangement, prospective pilgrims were to be provided with special mattresses and feeding at Mina, plus the cost of freight of a Jerrican of Zamzam water, which organizers say will be provided to pilgrims immediately they return back home.
But for the unfortunate death of two pilgrims at Mecca, officials of this year?s NHC say all went well and all the services that were promised the pilgrims were honored.
On the issue of the Zamzam, the Executive Secretary noted that ?every pilgrim that traveled with us to Mecca has been given a Jerrican of Zamzam when they arrived in Ghana?even some of our Mallams who didn?t go and were around the village were also given some, so in all I will say we redeemed what we promised.?
Meanwhile, official of the NHC are expected to hold a press briefing next week to submit a comprehensive report and officially close activities marking the 2013 Hajj.
Source:?The Al-Hajj
