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NRI Website Launches Haj Message Cell
Mohammed Rasooldeen, Special to Arab News
RIYADH, 24 January 2004 — A popular NRI website has activated its Haj Message Cell for the benefit of the Indian pilgrims who arranged their Haj travel through the Haj Committee this year. Under this program, people worldwide can send messages to Indian pilgrims through the website and they will quickly be delivered to the addressees.
The cell has been developed by the Riyadh-based YaHind.com, an NRI portal that provides extensive information about a wide range of topics to Indian citizens living abroad. The website, which receives more than 20,000 hits per day including 35 percent from the Gulf, has deployed a team of volunteers to deliver messages to the pilgrims in the several camps in Makkah, Madinah and Mina.
Speaking to Arab News, the Chief Executive Officer of the site, Syed Ziaur Rahman, said that the relatives of the Indian Haj pilgrims who wish to communicate with the pilgrims could send e-mails to YaHind. His band of volunteers will pass on the messages to the respective addressees in the holy cities. The whole service is offered to the pilgrims and their relatives free of charge, he stressed.
In addition to these services, Rahman said, pilgrims’ Haj-related questions could be answered by a panel of Islamic scholars available online. A detailed Orientation Manual issued by the Indian Consulate General is also available online for the benefit of the pilgrims. Internet users in other parts of the world can search for pilgrims’ addresses, flight details, accommodation and addresses of their agents.
Lately, YaHind has been registered as a company in India and will soon open its office in Dubai Media City. Plans are under way, Rahman said, to publish an NRI magazine by the end of this year to promote tourism and investments in India
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