ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has decided to allocate a 25 percent special quota in the Government Hajj Scheme for the pilgrims who will deposit dues in dollars. 0According to a report quoting official sources, the ministry also decided that such intending pilgrims would be exempted from the balloting under the new Hajj policy.

They said about 22,400 pilgrims would benefit from the ‘Sponsorship Scheme’ being introduced by the ministry in the wake of the current foreign exchange reserves in the country. The Hajj expenses could also be submitted through foreign remittances in dollars.

The report quoting sources said the Ministry of Religious Affairs has increased the Hajj quota for private operators from 40 percent to 50 percent, which might be further raised in the wake of persistent foreign exchange liquidity crunch. They said the ministry would charge Rs1.1 million from each pilgrim under the government scheme. The report said the Saudi Government was increasing the tax rate on Hajj by 18 to 20 percent.