ISLAMABAD: Hajj service companies have been instructed by the ministry to allocate 50 percent of their tent capacity to provide low-cost services.
Hajj Minister Bandar Hajjar met with representatives of domestic Hajj service firms and urged them to provide the best possible services to their pilgrims.
"We have allocated places for these firms in the holy sites and coordinated with government agencies to provide them with water, electricity and other facilities," the minister said, Arab News Reported.
The ministry warned low-cost service providers that they would be banned for one season or more if they violate contracts signed with pilgrims.
Hajjar has approved the mechanism for accepting electronic applications for low-cost services from Saudis.
The ministry, which has opened a website for receiving applications, said it would punish companies that try to manipulate the electronic applications.
"Forty-one thousand pilgrims will benefit from low-cost Hajj services this year," Saad Al-Qurashi, a member of the National Hajj & Umrah Committee, told Arab News.
Sixty-three companies are offering the service and their names have been published on the ministry's website. Companies have to open bank accounts to receive payments from pilgrims.
Each pilgrim needs to pay through the bank within 48 hours after registering. They will have another 48 hours to visit Hajj companies to present necessary documents and sign the contract.
"The domestic Hajj department will follow up the status of electronic applicants," a ministry official said, adding that companies must call qualified applicants, especially those who have made bank payments, to complete the procedures.
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