ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister of Religious Affairs Noor-ul-Haq Qadri Saturday urged the public to follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in banks for getting back their dues of Hajj who had registered themselves for Hajj 2020 under the government scheme.

Talking to PTV news channel, he said the Ministry of Religious Affairs had announced that people who had registered for this year’s Hajj programme would get a refund of their deposit, after the government canceled this year’s Hajj due to concerns over COVID-19 transmission.

He said all successful Hajj applicants of the government scheme were being informed about payment of their amount via mobile phone messages and social media websites, adding, this would be the first time since that pilgrims from Pakistan will not be going for Hajj due to the unprecedented situation posed by the pandemic.

Noor-ul-Haq Qadri said the process to refund the full amount of money deposited by the applicants for Hajj has been started immediately without any deduction.

He said the ministry of Hajj has also issued SOPs on social distancing in all bank branches.

He said Saudi government was timely informed to Pakistan for their decision and after their decision the Ministry of Religious Affairs has decided to pay the dues to the applicants for Hajj 2020.

He stressed that the successful applicants should observe the following SOPs and avoid rush in banks while taking refund of Hajj dues as ministry of Hajj was committed to returned back their money with smooth and transparent way.

He further advised that the applicants should visit the bank branches with their all required original documents and received their money back and applicants who have any related inquiries could contact the ministry’s inquiry cell.

He said applicants should visit to the designated branch where they were deposited their money, adding, in case of cash refund, the presence of refundee in person was necessary.

If payment branch was closed, the refund would be made from other authorized branch of the same designated bank, he said.

The refund process from banks was started from 02-07-2020.

In case of any difficulty in the refund, citizens should contact the Accounts Officer Refund of the Ministry, he added.

Replying a Question, Noor-ul-Haq Qadri said that to facilitate the pilgrims in the next years Hajj, the government would formulate Hajj policy in mutual consultation with government of Saudi Arabia.