Cabinet set to approve Haj policy today

our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The cabinet is set to give its approval to the new Haj policy today (Wednesday) for the current year, aiming to curtail the Haj expenses in comparison to the last year and also abolishing the balloting system of applications for Haj by introducing a new procedure of ‘first come, first served’.

The cabinet will meet under Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to approve the Haj policy for the year 2011, taking a major decision to abolish the balloting system for Haj and instead first come-first served procedure will be adopted.

According to sources, the government has enhanced the number of pilgrims from 159,547 in 2010 to 179,256 in 2011. Sources said in the new Haj policy, the government had decided to divide the pilgrims into two categories, Green and White, in terms of rent/distance from the Haram Sharif. The Green category has to pay 4,000 Riyals and will avail the accommodation within the radius of 2 kms of Haram Sharif and those who avail the White category will pay 3,600 Riyals and have accommodation at a distance of more than 2 km from Haram Sharif.

Sources said 50 percent pilgrims would perform Haj through the Government Scheme and 50 percent on Private Haj Scheme, while 15 percent quota would be kept with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Sources said the Haj expenses are likely to be curtailed by around Rs16,000 per pilgrim in the new policy as compared to the previous year.

Sources said the Ministry of Religious Affairs had decided to remove the condition of submission of foreign exchange from the applicants for Haj and allow them to arrange the Riyals for themselves. However, sources said that the applicants have to give an undertaking that they will arrange their own foreign exchange.

Besides the Haj policy, the cabinet will also take up the consumer price index to review the prices of daily use items. The Finance Ministry officials will give a detailed briefing on the prices of daily use items during the last 15 days. The cabinet is also giving approval to different MoUs and ratification of different agreements with other countries.