Religious Ministry blacklists six HGO for agreement violation

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has blacklisted six Hajj Group Organisers (HGOs) and suspended the quota of one company for violating agreement with their Hajj clients.

According to official sources, the ministry has issued the list of 798 HGOs. These companies would participate in private Hajj operation.

Ministry has bound private Hajj Group Organisers (HGOs) to keep at least five percent of their total Hajj packages at pat with Government Scheme package.

Hajj quota would only be distributed among the HGOs on confirmation of accepting the condition of keeping five percent of their total packages to Rs 456,000.

He said the Ministry has also updated the monitoring mechanism to regulate private package of Hajj Group Organisers (HGOs) to ensure economy.

According to him, the existing Monitoring Section in the ministry has been equipped to keep private packages under strict vigil.

Each HGO is bound to sign an agreement with an individual Haji regarding the facilities being offered in the package.

He said the Ministry would act as sole arbitrator and decision of the Ministry would be final in case of any dispute between the service provider and the Haji/Hujjaj.

He said the Saudi government has increased the Hajj quota for Pakistani pilgrims to 200,000 from 184,210. The decision to distribute additional Hajj quota through another balloting or otherwise would be taken next week.

According to Ministry, the 60 per cent (9,474) of additional seats will likely to go to the government Haj scheme, while 40pc (6,316) will be granted to the private sector.

In case of cabinet approval, the unsuccessful pilgrims of Hajj 2019 would be included in the balloting to win a berth for sacred journey.

The Saudi authorities also allowed Pakistani pilgrims to complete their immigration in Pakistan and not in the kingdom after making the country part of their ‘Road to Makkah’ project.

The service would offer pre-clearance of immigration for pilgrims at their respective points of embarkation.