ISLAMABAD: Branches of ten designated banks would start receiving Haj applications from Monday till the 8th of May, 2015.
Under the Haj Policy 2015, 143,368 pilgrims will perform the pilgrimage this year. Fifty percent ‘selected’ will perform Haj under the government scheme, while the remaining 50 percent will perform the religious obligation under the private scheme.
The charges for residents of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are Rs264,971 and Rs255,971 for Sindh and Balochistan. “Anyone who performed Haj during the last five years will not be considered for 2015”.
The Religious Affairs Ministry has also announced the airfares for the infants. Infants born after 13th October, 2013 in the Northern region wold be charges Rs 11170 while those in the Southern Region would be charged Rs 10270 which is 10% of the actual fare for the adult. The amount includes Rs 400 for protection fund and Rs 900 for vaccination.
The pilgrims are also required to carry machine readable passports, computerized national identity cards and a medical certificate during their stay.
In order to select the successful applicants, the government has decided to hold balloting contrary to the past practice of ‘first come, first served basis’.
INP