Haj expenses almost double in three years

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Religious Affairs Monday sent the Haj policy to the federal cabinet, according to which, the holy sojourn is expected to cost Rs850,000 for Pakistanis.

This year 81,132 Pakistanis will perform the annual Islamic pilgrimage. Under the government scheme, 32,453 Pakistanis will perform Haj while 48,679 will perform privately. In 2019, the expenses for the pilgrimage were Rs435,000. However, the Saudi government has not yet sent an estimate of the expenses to the Pakistani government.

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) meeting took place which discussed the Haj operation, religious pilgrimage and promotion of domestic and foreign tourism, and increase in the national carrier workforce, which was briefed by Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique.

According to PIA, the Haj operation will start from May 31 and will be carried out from eight cities including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan, Peshawar and Quetta. Hajj flights will land in Jeddah and Madina. The PIA's flight operation will continue from May 31 to August 13 and approximately 297 flights will be carried out. For this purpose, PIA has also taken out one of its Boeing 777 and one Airbus 320 from the long term storage.