Haj pilgrims to get e-bracelets
Last year, one of the pilgrims went missing for three days and starved for two-days, before the authorities could trace him at a local railway station,” said Prof S A Shukoor, Special Officer of Telangae-braceletsna Haj Committee.
Hyderabad: With the intention of bringing down the number of 'missing cases' during Haj, the pilgrims embarking on holy journey from India will be wearing bracelets with GPS tracking device.
The authorities believe that this technology, also known as e-bracelet, would help them to easily track a particular pilgrim and help locate anyone who goes missing in a new country.
According to officials, earlier, a normal bracelet (kada) made of aluminium was provided to each of the pilgrims before they go on board, which contained details such as pilgrim’s identity (cover number), name, State and nationality.
All these details were engraved on the kada, so that even if their other identification like ID card is lost, these bracelets would help in identifying them during the pilgrimage.
rent parts of the world to perform once a year event. During the month-long pilgrimage, scores of instances were reported where pilgrims go missing for several hours or to some days, causing concern for those who accompany the Hajis and also relatives and authorities in India.
It is believed that sometimes, the Hajis performing rituals get confused over the exit points at the Holy mosque and venture into a different lane which leads to another part of the City. “Each year, we receive scores of missing complaints from accompanying Hajis and in turn we inform the Saudi authorities to help trace them.
The local people are not able to help as they don't understand the language we speak, Urdu or even English, as they are only familiar with Arabic.
Last year, one of the pilgrims went missing for three days and starved for two-days, before the authorities could trace him at a local railway station,” said Prof S A Shukoor, Special Officer of Telangana Haj Committee.
Tracing a missing Haji has been a tedious process. As it involves alerting authorities in Saudi Arabia by reporting the matter to India’s Counsel General in Jeddah which in turn informs the Haj Mission, which alerts the local police.
Another process adopted by the Haj Committee is to inform the Khadim-Ul-Hujjaj (Haj Volunteers) to trace the missing. They enquire with those who had accompanied the missing pilgrims and if they fail to trace, they approach police through Haj Mission.
Saudi SIM cards to be issued in India
Besides e-bracelets, the Haj Committee will also be providing Saudi Arabian SIM cards for the first time to the pilgrims as part of the kit being handed over in India. These SIM cards would become operational after due process like recording the identity of individual pilgrim with biometric devices.
Earlier these SIM cards were provided upon landing in Jeddah airport by local authorities. The Central Haj Committee would be distributing the e-bracelets and also SIMs to the pilgrims embarking from Shamshabad Airport. This year about 7,000 Hajis from Telangana, AP and some districts of Karnataka would be embarking on their holy journey from Haj terminal of RGIA Airport.
By Md Nizamuddin
