How does the Consulate General of India in Saudi Arabia support the Indian Pilgrims?
Chairman: In principle it is very good, however there is still scope for improvement. We have been requesting the Consulate General to allow us to have our own selected volunteers (khadim-ul-hujaj) from our State only for the pilgrims from AP, and if not all at least 50% of them, hence we can greatly help our Pilgrims. The Govt. wants us to select the volunteers only from the Govt. jobs, and this selection criterion is limiting our choice of good volunteers. I believe the Consulate General must earnestly consider our request. There has also been lot of complaints that the Indian pilgrims were stationed far from the Holy Mosques, and this issue must also be addressed by the Consulate General. I fully agree that massive demolitions of building around the Holy Mosques is taking place which is also the reason for the distant stationing of the pilgrims, however, our Consulate General should try their level best to help our pilgrims get the residence as close as possible to the Holy Places.
