ISLAMABAD: The Ministry for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has announced that it has received 216,542 applications for the government’s haj scheme as the deadline expired on Saturday.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday had said the Religious Affairs Ministry had extended the date for receiving haj applications by designated banks from March 7 to 9. Earlier, it was reported that the federal government would accept applications for its haj scheme starting from Feb 25 until March 6 at 14 designated banks.
The lottery for the government haj scheme has been delayed by a day. It will now take place on March 12.
Additionally, the ministry has decided to establish a haj helpline in order to promptly resolve any grievances of prospective pilgrims. The helpline will provide them with the required information as well as register and resolve complaints relating to Haj 2019.
According to ministry sources, the prospective pilgrims can register their complaints or seek information via the 042-111-725-425 helpline, APP reported. They can also get answers about Haj related queries via 051-9205696, 051-9216980, 051-9216981 and 051-9216982.
As per the Haj Policy 2019 released by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, a total of 184,210 Pakistani pilgrims are to perform Haj this year.
The federal cabinet had announced the policy on January 31, under which the cost of performing the ritual under the government scheme has been fixed at Rs456,426 (with sacrifice), against last year’s expense of Rs280,000 per person.
Under the government scheme, Haj dues excluding sacrifice will be Rs436,975 for the northern region of the country including Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Multan and Rahim Yar Khan, while the cost for the south region including Karachi, Quetta and Sukkur will be Rs426,975.
