No plans to halt Umrah visas in 2013

JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS

Friday 2 November 2012

Last Update 2 November 2012 2:28 am

There are no plans to stop Umrah visas next year as a result of development projects at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, Haj Ministry spokesman Hatim Qadi said yesterday.
“We have not received any instruction by higher authorities to stop issuing Umrah visas,” Qadi said.

He said the ministry’s monitoring officials have caught three false Haj service agents who had allegedly cheated some groups of pilgrims during this Haj season.
“We are continuing our investigation with the three agents and their file will be passed to the governorate and then to the court to take legal action,” Qadi said.

Asked about prospects of licensing more agents to provide domestic Haj services, Qadi said: “We have licensed 250 companies to provide domestic Haj services and there is no plan to issue more licenses at the moment. We would like to see better services from the existing companies.”

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He said the ministry would review the overall performance of the different departments during this Haj season to learn lessons from mistakes and improve services.
Qadi said Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar was successful in convincing Nigerian authorities the reason for sending back some women pilgrims this year for violating Haj regulations.