112,526 to perform Haj under govt scheme

[ahlam1399]

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri on Wednesday performed balloting under the government Haj scheme according to which 1,12,526 Pakistanis would perform Haj this year.The minister informed newsmen after balloting that a total of 184,210 Pakistanis would perform Haj under the government Haj scheme while notification for extension of Pakistan’s quota to 200,000 as committed during visit of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is also expected.“We will devise policy and include more intending pilgrims once a letter regarding increase in quota to 200,000 is received,” the minister said. The minister said 107,526 under the government scheme while 71,684 people would go for performance of Haj under private Haj scheme. A quota of 5000 intending pilgrims would be distributed among tour operators who were enrolled with the ministry but previously were not considered while allotment of number of Hujjaj.He said that over 12,000 intending pilgrims who have been applying for Haj for the last three years would be allowed to perform Haj without balloting. Similarly, around pilgrims above years of age to 90 would also be allowed for Haj without balloting.Noorul Haq Qadri said a revolutionary step this year is that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has announced to include Pakistani Hujjaj in the ‘Road to Makkah’ programme. “According to this programme the pilgrims will be provided customs clearance and immigration facility at Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar airports,” he said.He said a high level Saudi delegation would visit Pakistan next month to work out modalities of the scheme. The facility being extended to Pakistani intended pilgrims would save hours long customs clearance and immigration process at Jeddah airport.According to data provided by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, a total of 108,006 applications were received from Punjab, 49,343 from KP, 40,752 from Sindh while 10,258 from Balochistan, 2,316 from Azad Kashmir, 4,314 from Fata while 2,422 applications were submitted from Gilgit-Baltistan.The Haj dues for Haj 2019 under the government scheme will be Rs436,975 for intending pilgrims of North (departing from Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan etc) and Rs426, 975 for South (Karachi, Quetta, Sukkur). Qurbani charges will be Rs19,945 (optional).A total of 216,623 applications were received for the government scheme — 123,700 from men and 92,923 from women.Last year, the Ministry received over 373,000 applications from intending pilgrims and now the number of applicants reduced considerably due to over Rs150,000 increase in Haj expenses under the government scheme.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/cwEr/~4/y7oIJkWqWbw

أكثر... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/com/cwEr/~3/y7oIJkWqWbw/443434-112-526-to-perform-haj-under-govt-scheme)