DOHA: Nearly all charity organisations in Qatar have put up huge ‘iftar’ tents this Ramadan, which begins from today, to accommodate increasing number of people in view of Qatar’s rising population.
The Red Crescent’s main tent set up near its headquarters in Old Ghanem locality of Doha is king-size. It will house some 2,800 people at a time.
And throughout the month some 84,000 people will benefit at this and various other tents of the charitable body.
There are 200,000 more people in the country this Ramadan than last year and a vast majority of them are low-income workers.
“They will be the main beneficiaries of our Ramadan ‘iftar’ meal programme,” says Qatar’s Red Crescent, which has doubled the size of its ‘iftar’ tents this Ramadan.
The meals served to the beneficiaries will be hot, expensive and sumptuous. “This kind of charity is needed to be done among foreign workers. They are a large part of our community,” the Red Crescent said.
The charitable body has earmarked a mind-boggling QR100m ($27.5m) for its Ramadan charity programmes in and out of Qatar this year.
It is customary for charitable bodies and some rich families to hold mass ‘Iftar’ parties (the meal with which the day-long Muslim fast is broken at dusk) for people during the fasting month of Ramadan. Mostly low-income workers, including non-Muslims, benefit from these parties.
The organisers learnt a bitter lesson last Ramadan as almost each tent, also called Ramadan tent, attracted large numbers of people beyond their capacity.
Many organisers had to turn people back due to overcrowding in some tents last year.
So this year almost every charity has been careful and has set up huge tents that could accommodate hundreds of visitors.
Qatar’s population was 2.17 million last Ramadan (May-end 2014) while this year (May-end 2015) it is over 2.37 million. This means that the population has risen by more than 200,000 in a year since last Ramadan.
Jassim and Hamad bin Jassim Charity Foundation has set up large tents at seven locations across the country to serve sumptuous food, mainly to low-income workers.
The charity is, in a new initiative, also launching ‘House Iftar’ and will distribute meal packs to 100 needy homes every day during the fasting month.
Qatar Red Crescent has set up extra-large tents in different locations, including one near old Movenpick Hotel opposite Doha Port.
The Ministry of Economy and Commerce, meanwhile, said in a statement that it had launched an inspection drive to ensure all outlets are abiding by government-enforced Ramadan pricing of about 400 food and non-food items.
The ministry has urged people to call its toll-free number 16001 (Consumer Protection Department) or email at info@mec.gov.qa if they notice any violation of the Ramadan price freeze. The Peninsula
