Senate body seeks details of Haj quota allotted to 19 HGOs within four days
Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Friday directed the Religious Ministry to submit province-wise details of Haj quota allotted to 19 Haj Group Organisers (HGOs) within the next four days.
The meeting of the committee was chaired by Senator Hafiz Hamdullah. The committee directed the ministry to submit under which criteria the quota has been allotted to the HGOs. The ministry may also submit the details on what grounds the Haj quota has been denied to 2,000 HGOs.
Senator Zahid Khan observed that Haj quota had been allotted to one HGO in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Hafiz Hamdullah said the quota has been allotted to only one HGO in Balochistan.
Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Muhammad Yousuf said a total of 2,033 HGOs have been enrolled in the ministry. Haj quota has been allotted to various companies through a transparent system.
Giving details of Haj policy 2014 Joint Secretary Haj Shahzad Ahmed said the 20 percent quota cut imposed last year would continue this year as well. A total of 143,368 Pakistanis would perform Haj this year.
HGOs would be allotted 15,000 additional quota as per agreement inked with them last year. Consequently 86,684 will perform Haj under private scheme and 56,684 under government scheme.
Haj applications would be received from first week of March on first come first serve basis. Haj categories have been exterminated this year.
Government Haj package from Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar would be Rs 302,381 and Rs 287,381 for the pilgrims of Karachi, Sukkur and Quetta.
Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, Zahid Khan, Zahida Khan,Muhammad Ali Rind and Surriya Amiruddin and officials of Religious Ministry attended the meeting.
