Hajj dream in jeopardy for over 1,300 applicants

Applicants were declared unsuccessful due to ‘non-payment’ despite paying the required amount

KARACHI:

More than 1,300 applicants for Hajj this year have been declared unsuccessful due to a systems glitch at the end of various banks even though they had paid the registration fee in full, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) had received a total of 63,604 applications through online and selected banks for Hajj 2022. The total quota of 81,132 allocated to Pakistan for this year’s annual pilgrimage has been divided between government and private operators at 40 and 60 per cent respectively. As such, the only 32,453 applicants would have been able to utilise the government Hajj scheme.

Applicants were supposed to pay a token amount of Rs50,000 as registration fee between May 1 to 13 in the name of MoRA. Upon payment, they were to receive a unique applicant ID for further instructions. Following a balloting process, successful candidates were notified via text messages and emails, and were subsequently required to pay the total amount for Hajj in selected banks across the country. The costs for this year’s government Hajj scheme applicants is between Rs749,967 and Rs 800,387 varying on the city the applicant belongs to and whether they include qurbani in their Hajj package.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, candidates affected by the glitch shared that they discovered their applications had been unsuccessful after they found their names missing from the flight schedules uploaded on June 3. As they turned to designated website to check their status, they learned that their applications had been rejected due to ‘non-payment’ even though they had paid the required amount to banks and had received receipts for the payments in turn.

When the affected applicants contacted the banks, they were reassured that their money had been deposited and sent to MoRA. For five days since, a blame game has ensued between the ministry and the banks with the former claiming it never received the money the applicants had deposited.

“We have been calling and sending out e-mails to the presidents of these banks and the ministry, and have been registering complaints on the Prime Minister’s Portal. We even called the Hajj information numbers but we are just told to wait one more day,” shared Aftab Jabbar Memon who was among those declared unsuccessful despite payment. The affected applicants have formed online groups to coordinate on how best to proceed in this predicament.

“I have worked day and night to collect the money need to send my parents for Hajj. The news has taken such a toll on my mother that we had to rush her to the hospital,” shared Usman Shafqat. “Who is responsible for all this mental trauma the families are going through?”

After the last date of payment, MORA contacted all the applicants who were unsuccessful in the balloting and were on the waiting list. As of now, the total Hajj quota has been filled with candidates on the waiting list while those who deposited the money upon being initially told they were successful are stuck in limbo. “We have been receiving messages that we can get our money back from banks as the quota has been full for the year and we can get the token money out,” said Imran Bhutta sharing the message he has received.

Bank officials and MORA officials have been conducting meetings on the issue for the last two days but no solution or relief has been given to the applicants yet. According to an official speaking on condition of anonymity, there are three possible solutions. The ministry could write a letter to the Saudi Government asking for a ‘hardship quota’ to Pakistan but that will not cater to the complete number of applicants suffering from the system issue. Another would be take some of the quota allotment from private Hajj operators, but whether they will cooperate remains to be seen. The third would be to send the over 1,300 applicants via private operators with the government or whoever is found culpable for the glitch paying the difference in cost. Banks and MoRA officials are expected to have a meeting today (Tuesday) to decide the fate of these applicants.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Religious Affairs said that the ministry has constituted a committee to investigate the issue and after the inquiry, the banks were found at fault as they never posted the receipts on the ministry’s portal despite collecting money from the applicants. The spokesperson said that the ministry was striving to solve the issue at the earliest and the banks have already been directed to accommodate the applicants by bearing the burden of the difference of payment in the government and private Hajj schemes as the applicants suffered just because the banks could not cope with the task of sharing the details with the ministry. He hoped that the banks would comply and the issue would soon be resolved.

(WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RIZWAN SHEHZAD FROM ISLAMABAD)