ISLAMABAD: No quota has been reserved for the members of the parliament in the government Hajj scheme on the directives of the prime minister, according to an official of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony.
The official said that no quota has been put aside for senators or members of national and provincial assemblies in the scheme. Only three percent of the total government scheme of 71,684 which equals 2,150 would be distributed among broken families, newly-born infant cases and applicants belonging to far-flung areas on equitable basis.
He said that the employees of corporate entities, public sector organisations and labour/low paid employees were adjusted in the category of hardship quota. Hardship/broken families include a child or newly-born infant, whose parents are going for Hajj and intend to carry their children with them.
As per Hajj policy, 500 seats from out of 2,150 hardship quota has been reserved for the low paid employees/labourers of public sector/corporate organisations, companies registered with the Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) and the Workers Welfare Fund, sponsored by their respective organisations. The deserving persons would be adjusted in the hardship quota after thorough scrutiny, he added.
The ministry has already decreased the hardship cases quota from five percent to three percent in the Hajj Policy 2016, aiming to accommodate maximum pilgrims in the balloting. According to the official, 143,368 people will perform Hajj this year including 71,684 through the government scheme.
The unsuccessful applicants of the government scheme should avoid approaching the ministry for inclusion of their names on the parliamentarians’ quota as the ministry had already allocated its available quota of 69,534 to the applicants in a transparent balloting. A committee has already been constituted to allot the remaining 2,150 hardship quota among the deserving people on merit.
The compensation to heirs of deceased or injured person has been increased as well. To a question, he said that each successful person of the government scheme would pay Rs 500 in Hajj Mohafiz Scheme. According to this scheme, the legal family of the deceased will be paid Rs 500,000 as compensation in case of natural death, Rs 100,000 in case of permanent loss of limb, and Rs 200,000 will be paid in case of the loss of more than one limb in Saudi Arabia.
