Ministry of Religious Affairs | Ibadat

Posts Tagged Ministry of Religious Affairs

How to verify Private Hajj Group Organizers

Verifying Hajj Organizers

When selecting the right private hajj package and Hajj Operator for the journey of your lifetime – it is paramount to verify that the Hajj Operator has a quota and is allowed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to take private hajj groups.

It has to be stress again that one needs to be very cautious when selecting Hajj Operators so as to not fall into the trap of the companies who offers Hajj packages at low prices as they might be bogus companies pretending to be Hajj Group Organizers. There have been many instances in the past when unverified companies pretending to be Hajj group organizers have taken money from potential Hujjaj and run away.

Here at Ibadat.pk, we have only put up packages of verified the Hajj Group Organizers and you should as well before booking.

Verification process: HP Number (most important element)

Verification is the essential first step in choosing the right hajj package as there is always confusion around the legitimacy of private hajj package providers in Pakistan.

You have to make sure that the tour operators are registered by Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA). You can confirm this by looking at their HP number.

HP Number (Registration Number): Registered Private Hajj Operator is a company that has been provided quota by MORA and is authorized to take private Hajj Groups to Saudi Arabia. Any company that is registered with MORA will be issued a HP Number. This is the most important number needed for verification of the operator.

Note that some companies might provide you with Hajj Enrollment or DTS number to justify that they have a Hajj Quota. It is important to note is that there is a difference between being enrolled at the ministry of religious affairs and being registered at MORA. Both enrollment and DTS numbers are insignificant for verification of the Hajj Organizer.

  • Enrollment number: any company that wants to apply for Hajj Quota gets enrolled by MORA. Basically, being enrolled signifies that the company is on the waiting list and enrollment number provides the number on that list. There are approximately 2500 companies enrolled with Ministry of Religious Affairs but they don’t have Hajj Quota. Don’t get fooled by a 5-digit enrollment number that’s not the registration number.
  • DTS Number: DTS is a license granted by Department of Tourist Services that allows companies to work in the field of travel and tourism. It gives the capability to travel agencies / companies to collect and process sensitive documents like passports etc. But DTS license does not signify that the company has been granted Hajj Quota.

How to verify ?

The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Pakistan has introduced a short message service (SMS) for helping the pilgrims to save themselves from fictitious Hajj group organizing companies (HGOs). As per an official of the ministry, an intending pilgrim who is willing to perform the holy ritual via the Hajj Group Organizers (HGO) should send the first four digits of HGO’s enrolment numbers from mobile phone to 8331 to check and verify the HGO’s authenticity. You will get all details regarding the Hajj Group Organizer – including address, quota, CEO name etc.

The recently launched sms service is a great in for the help of intending Haj pilgrims.

Business to Business Sales of Hajj Packages

Having said this it is important to note that you might come across companies that selling Hajj Packages of actual registered organizers. These companies might be a part of the affiliated network or business to business network of Hajj Group Organizer. Basically, companies that are not registered to take Hujjaj but are selling Hajj packages of the actual registered Hajj Organizers.

This is called B2B (Business to Business Sales). In this case you have to be careful and When the agent sells on behalf of Registered Hajj Group Organizer, it is important to confirm the following before moving forward with the booking:

  • Name of the Hajj Group Organizer whose packages are being sold
  • Meet the actual Hajj Group Organizer before finalizing the package
  • Payment should always be made in the name of the registered Hajj Group Organizer
  • It is important to verify the facilities being offered by the Hajj Group Organizer and confirm if there are no miss commitments being made by the B2B agent
  • Important to verify that the hajj package price being paid by you is the same as the listed price offered by the registered Hajj Group Organizer.
    • B2B agents are not authorized to charge more than the listed price
    • B2B agents are not allowed to collect payments on behalf of Hajj Group Organizers

Note About Ibadat

Please note – we at ibadat.pk will never ask you to pay us for your packages. We are here to just facilitate the Hujjaj in selecting the right hajj package and choosing only trust worthy hajj group organizers. We are a package comparison platform. Hence we will always send you to meet the registered Hajj Group Organizer and pay directly to the Hajj Group Organizer.

, , , ,

No Comments