PESHAWAR, Nov 24: The NWFP government has announced a 100-per cent increase in the Haj quota for government employees, according to official sources.

The employees selected through draws might accompany their spouses or other close relatives to perform Haj on government expenses, they said. Previously, the age limit for applicants had been fixed at 40 years, which had now been raised to 50 years, they added.

This was announced by the Secretary of the Benevolent Fund, NWFP, in a letter to all administrative secretaries of the province earlier this week. It said the government had started free Haj scheme for government employees in 2004 on official expenses. Since then, government employees were sent to perform Haj through government expenses after their selection through draws, it said.

Under the scheme, the government had allotted 10 per cent quota to all line departments which enable 10 employees of every department to proceed to Saudi Arabia for Haj. The quota for all government departments had been increased by 100 per cent, officials said.