ISLAMABAD
The federal government has fixed the expenses of Hajj for public and private pilgrims between Rs6,50,000 to Rs8,60,000.
Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Mufti Abdul Shakoor addressed a press conference and said the federal cabinet has also approved a subsidy of Rs1,50,000 per pilgrim for the Hajj package.
The federal minister informed that the official Hajj package will be from Rs6,50,000 to Rs7,10,000 while the Hajj expenses for the Northern Region have been fixed for private pilgrims at Rs8,51,000 and for the Southern Region up to Rs8,60,000.
Mufti Abdul Shakoor providing financial details of the Hajj cost said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have 52 per cent compulsory expenditures, 21 per cent airfare and 27 per cent other spending.
He informed the media that Saudi Arabia has reduced Pakistan’s total quota from 180,000 to 81,210 this year following the coronavirus situation. The Federal Minister for Religious Affairs said that other arrangements including hotel and transport have been reviewed in Makkah and Madinah.
Mufti Abdul Shakoor said for the last two years, the per bed accommodation has been reduced from 2600 riyals to 2100 riyals while the pilgrims will be charged 27 riyals for three meals a day.
It is pertinent to mention here that the national flag carrier — Pakistan International Airline (PIA) — will begin this year’s Hajj flight operations from June 6.
According to PIA spokesperson, the first Hajj flight will depart for Madina from Islamabad on June 6. PIA said the Hajj flights to Saudi Arabia would fly to Jeddah and Madinah.
“The national flag carrier will operate overall 400 pre and post-Hajj flights from May 31 to August 13,” Pakistan’s national flag carrier said in a statement.
Hajj operation will be carried out from 8 cities of Pakistan including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan, Peshawar and Quetta, the statement read.
