RAWALPINDI, Jan 5: The government will refund Rs420 million to the intending pilgrims due to decrease in the foreign exchange rate, Federal Secretary for Religious Affairs, Zakat and Ushr Jameel Ahmed Bhutto said.

He was speaking at the farewell held to see-off the first batch of intending pilgrims for this year’s Haj.

He said at the time of submission of the Haj applications, the rate of US dollar was Rs62, which had slided down to about Rs58 reducing the expenditure of the Hujjaj. This is the second time that such a refund would be made. Last year the intending pilgrims were refunded Rs600 million.

Mr Bhutto said 125,000 Pakistanis would be visiting the holy land for pilgrimage this year, 8,500 more than last year.

These pilgrims would be going for Haj under three different schemes viz sponsorship scheme, open Haj scheme and regular scheme.