Pakistan's Secretary of Religious Affairs has provided details regarding the Hajj expenses under the government scheme for this year during a recent meeting of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Religious Affairs, Express News reported.
The meeting, chaired by Committee Chairman Aamir Dogar, focused on improvements in Hajj arrangements, with private Hajj companies being a part of the ministry's supervision.
The Secretary of Religious Affairs stated that efforts are being made to keep the Hajj expenses under Rs1.1 million.
There is a quota of 5,000 pilgrims under the government scheme, with additional applications expected in the coming days.
In Mecca, each mattress in Mina will be assigned a specific number for the pilgrims. Last year, 764 complaints were received against 218 private Hajj companies.
During the meeting, private Hajj operators also presented their views. They emphasized that they have been involved in Hajj operations for over 20 years and discussed the need for long-term contracts with Saudi authorities to lower costs.
The ministry assured that they were working on reducing the packages offered by private operators. The ministry also revealed that while Saudi officials had suggested increasing the quota of each operator to 3,000 pilgrims, they have currently paused this proposal for the year. In the future, the quota may rise to between 2,500 and 3,000.
The ministry also plans to implement a policy to potentially phase out the quota system altogether in the coming years, aligning with the policies of the Saudi authorities.
The ministry's focus is not to shut down any businesses but to prevent the exploitation of pilgrims, as private operators have been known to sell Hajj packages between different companies, often at inflated rates.
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