In a bid to accelerate Hajj preparations, Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Talha Mehmood has temporarily abolished the weekly holidays for officials.
He instructed officials to ensure their availability to facilitate Hajj pilgrims seven days a week. There will be no holiday on account of Labour Day in the ministry, ordered the religious minister.
A day earlier, the minister expressed concerns about significant issues in Hajj arrangements and said that a substantial amount of time has already been lost.
He maintained that despite facing difficulties, efforts are being made to provide pilgrims with the best possible facilities during this year's Hajj.
However, he expressed optimism that these problems could be resolved through close cooperation with the Saudi authorities, with whom he recently met and received assurances of support to ensure Hajj for Pakistani pilgrims is smooth and successful.
In an interview with APP, he said arrangements should have been finalised by the end of the holy month of Ramadan, but a major portion of arrangements has not yet been finalised.
The major issue was a dearth of foreign exchange, the minister said, adding that foreign exchange was not paid to Saudi authorities on time.
However, he was optimistic that the issues would be resolved through the teamwork of the ministry officials.
He said nearly 40,000 intending pilgrims would depart for Saudi Arabia from Islamabad airport under the Road to Makkah initiative this year.
Under the Road to Makkah project, all immigration requirements of pilgrims are to be fulfilled at the Islamabad Airport.
This saves pilgrims several hours upon reaching the kingdom since they can just enter the country, having gone through immigration already at home.
The minister raised concerns about the performance of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and called upon the chief executive officer (CEO) of the national carrier to address the issues.
The CEO promised to cooperate and ensure timely transportation of passengers.
Additionally, the ministry is making efforts to arrange accommodations close to Haram Sharif.
The speaker expressed a willingness to disclose the names of catering companies to the media and warned that penalties would be imposed if quality food is not provided to pilgrims.
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had already announced that its pre-Hajj operation would start on May 21 and continue till August 12 during which the national flag carrier would lift 38,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
“Pre Hajj operation will commence from 1st Zilqad till 4th Zilhajj, 1444 corresponding to Gregorian date 21st May till 22nd June 2023 (subject to moon sighting),” according to PIA Hajj circular.
The national flag carrier has decided to charge fares in US dollars for the second year in a row and fixed the fares for pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia under the private Hajj scheme from $870 to $1180 for the Southern region that includes Karachi, Quetta, Sukkur, Hyderabad.
This decision came after the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony last month decided to allocate a 50% special quota in the Government Hajj Scheme-2023 for the pilgrims who will pay in US dollars.
On the other hand, the airfares for the pilgrims from the northern region were in the range of $910 to $1,220. The northern sector includes Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan, and other cities.
The cost of a complete government Hajj scheme-based pilgrimage would be Rs1.25 million.