Staff Reporter :
The first Hajj flight under private management is likely to leave Dhaka for Jeddah on June 8 with 403 Bangladeshi pilgrims.
Meanwhile, a Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying 410 hajj pilgrims left Dhaka for Saudi Arabia on Sunday morning.
“Sending pilgrims under private management has been delayed due to technical problem. The visa complexities have already been resolved and we will able to send our first batch of Hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia on June 8,” President of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) Shahadat Hossain Taslim told The New Nation on Sunday.
He, however, said the Hajj flights will leave Dhaka as per Makkah schedule.
“The overall arrangements taken by the government for the Hajj pilgrims are better comparing to previous years. Besides, all the formalities including house rent in Saudi Arabia has been completed. We hope, the pilgrims will able to perform Hajj smoothly this year,” Taslim said in reply to a query.
According to the bilateral agreement between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, a total of 57,585 Bangladeshis will be able to perform Hajj this year likely to be held on July 8 subjected to the sighting of the moon.
Of the total pilgrims, 4000 will perform Hajj under government Hajj management while the rest will perform Hajj under private Hajj agencies.
However, a Boeing 777 of Biman Bangladesh took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 9:00am. Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Hajj programme formally.
Before seeing them off, State Minister for Civil Aviation M Mahbub Ali and State Minister for Religious Affairs Md Faridul Haque Khan inquired the pilgrims about the problems they faced at the airport.
Although the immigration formalities on the part of Saudi Arabia airport were supposed to be completed at the Dhaka airport, finally it did not take place, the pilgrims told the two junior ministers.
In reply, the State Ministers said the respective officials from Saudi Arabia reached late in Dhaka and that’s why they could start the immigration process today.
The immigration will start in Dhaka from Monday, the State Minister said.
According to Biman, the national airliner will carry 29,000 pilgrims by three Boeing 777 aircraft under its 130 dedicated flights with 65 round trips.
Saudia and Flynas will carry the rest of the total pilgrims.
In 2019, around 1.27 lakh Bangladeshis were allowed to perform Hajj due to the global Covid pandemic. The largest annual Muslim congregation was held on a limited scale in the last two years.
