26,000 applications received under regular Haj scheme

ISLAMABAD: The scheduled banks received over 26,000 applications under the government’s regular Haj scheme till March 22.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Religious Affairs said on Thursday around 2,000 applications were received under the sponsorship scheme from overseas Pakistanis.In all, 179,121 Pakistanis have been allowed to perform Hajj this year. The government has fixed 50 per cent quota for the sponsorship scheme. In this scheme, the overseas Pakistanis could deposit 4,285 to 4,325 US dollars with the application for themselves, friends or relatives.

Remaining 50 per cent quota is divided equally between regular Hajj scheme and private operators’ scheme. For regular scheme, the Hajj expenses have been estimated from Rs1,165,000 to Rs1,175,000 for southern and northern parts of the country.

The intending applicants have been asked to contact scheduled banks along with their passports, computerised national identity cards (CNICs), COVID-19 and health certificates. The last for submission of applications is March 31.The spokesman said that price of coupon for sacrificial animal will be from 700 to 1,000 Saudi Riyals.