Govt may allocate entire Hajj arrangements to private operators next year

Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs Dr Zulfiqar Haider has indicated that the government wanted to withdraw from Hajj arrangements and it is likely that from next year all Hajj programme will be allocated to private operators, reported 24NewsHD TV channel. 

Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs was speaking during Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs which met under the chair of Senator Maulana Atta-ur-Rehman on Tuesday. 

Dr Zulfiqar Haider told the committee that during the current year the Ministry received just 80 complaints about private Hajj operators while 18000 complaints were registered regarding the government scheme. 

He said Ministry of Religious Affairs had earlier registered 904 companies as Hajj Tour Operators but Saudi Government expressed concerns over the number of registered companies resultantly the government retained 162 companies which were registered with SECP. 

Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs told the Senate standing committee meeting that this year Saudi Arabia gave 2000 Hajj quota to each company, which was handed over to 46 companies. Secretary Dr Zulfiqar urged the Private Hajj operators to withdraw cases from court otherwise their quota will be terminated. 

He said private Hajj operators moved to the Sindh High Court and the court had sought the minutes of the meeting which may affect the private Hajj quota. 

Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs warned the private Hajj Operators that if the court delays the matter then Saudi Arabia can also cancel their quotas. 

Reporter: Usman Khan