বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৩ জানুয়ারী ২০২৫, ০১:২৯ অপরাহ্ন
The government on Wednesday reduced the cost of hajj packages under both public and private management by Tk 11,725, as Saudi Arabia has reduced a service charge for intending pilgrims worldwide.
Pilgrims who will perform hajj under the government management have to pay Tk 6,71,290 each to perform hajj this year after a deduction of Tk 11,725. Besides, those who will go under private management have to pay Tk 6,60,893 each after the deduction of the amount.
Those who have already been registered for the hajj under the government management will get back Tk 46,725 from the hajj office in Dhaka when the price of food will be returned, read an official release of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
The private hajj agencies will return Tk 11,725 to each pilgrim who got registered earlier.
Meanwhile, the government has extended the deadline for hajj registration till March 27, it said. The server of the hajj registration will automatically be stopped once the quota for the registration is filled.
Moreover, Bangladesh Bank asked the banks involved in the hajj procedures to keep their branches open on March 27.
On Tuesday, State Minister for Religious Affairs Faridul Haq Khan said, “We requested the Saudi government to lessen the cost of hajj packages, and an announcement will come from the government on Wednesday in this regard.”
He said the Saudi government increased the cost by around Tk 1 lakh for each pilgrim as they added some new facilities for hajj pilgrims to the previous ones, he said while addressing an ‘intra- religious dialogue’ at the collectorate conference room of Natore district.
On February 1, the government fixed Hajj cost at Tk 6,83,018 for each pilgrim, which was around Tk 1.61 lakh more the past year. The increased Hajj cost drew huge criticism as it is higher than that of the neighbouring countries.
Of the entire cost, an amount of Tk 1,97,797 was fixed as airfare for each passenger.
The High Court on March 14 questioned how common people will perform Hajj at the cost of the package set by the government.
It asked, “Why doesn’t the government allocate budgets for the Hajj like other countries in the world?”
A High Court bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Ali came up with this observation while hearing a writ petition over revising the Hajj package offered by the government this year.
The HC asked the authorities concerned to take initiative to cut the Hajj cost following a hearing on the writ petition on March 15.
On March 17, the Ministry of Religious Affairs gave directives to the authorities concerned to rationally reduce the airfare of Biman.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines Managing Director Shafiul Azim said on March 19 that there is no scope to reduce the fare of Hajj flights this year.
