Municipality readies Makkah for Ramadan

June 15, 2013

Makkah, Jun 15: Thousands of laborers will be working around the clock to keep the holy city of Makkah clean during the month of fasting that commences July 9.

The Makkah Municipality has approved a comprehensive plan to clean, collect garbage and monitor shops to ensure they adhere to food and safety standards. The workers will be deployed along roads and tunnels and ensure that streetlights and flood drainage systems work.

A municipality statement said yesterday that over 8,500 workers with equipment would be used, particularly in the Central Zone during the month. Additional workers and equipment will be deployed to cope with emergencies during the last 10 days of Ramadan.

The mayor will head the supervisory committee for Ramadan, with the support of deputy mayor, directors and top officials of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.

There will be 28 teams to eradicate insects, rodents, and stray dogs and cats. The teams will have 432 supervisors, technicians and drivers supported by 192 pieces of equipment for disinfecting and removing stagnant water, the statement said.

Municipal inspectors will make frequent visits to commercial establishments and markets to ensure adherence to hygiene and environmental health standards. Public health facilities will be inspected in collaboration with the General Administration for Environmental Health. There will be close monitoring of food shops. Samples will be collected from eateries, water companies and ice factories to ensure they are hygienic. The municipality plans to take 140 food samples daily throughout the month.

The fuel stations and cafeterias on highways and mobile cafes will be inspected to ensure that they are engaged in licensed activities. There will also be committees to monitor prices at markets, kiosks and stalls.

Inspections of slaughterhouses and meat shops will be beefed up to ensure that slaughtered animals are healthy and the shops and workers are following health regulations. The municipality will work with the Agricultural Department to ensure that animals meant for slaughtering are free of contagious diseases.

The committee will take steps to protect people from old and dangerous buildings. Preparations are also being made to tackle any emergency such as fire and floods, the statement added.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

Comments