The Ministry of Religious Affairs itself before this Eid, on July 6, stated that about 300 Hajj pilgrims were duped by fraudsters this year. Despite repeated warnings, some unscrupulous circles and unregistered, anonymous agencies deceived the pilgrims by taking huge money from them without carrying out the pre-registration and registration procedures. The deceived arrived at the ministry to collect their visas in various ways, which is not desirable at all. All concerned were alerted about the situation. The ministry that every year fails to deliver a better Hajj programme for the pilgrims said that it would take legal and administrative action against these circles. We hope it will keep its words.
This year, Saudi Arabia has conditionally organised the Hajj after it was closed off to foreigners for the last two years due to the pandemic. The Gulf kingdom has imposed a number of restrictions, including setting age limits and quotas for each country. As many as 60,146 people have gone to Saudi Arabia from Bangladesh to perform Hajj this year – 4,115 under government management and 55,885 under private agencies. It is very inopportune that pilgrims, who perform hajj with so much hope, not to say spending so much money, have to suffer at every step during the journey due to mismanagement and irresponsibility. After the fiasco of changed flight schedules, and the inadequacy of flights to take outbound passengers for hajj, now on the return journey, we hear of pilgrims who will have to suffer due to flight delays.
We observed that over the years, hajj agencies put many devotees in plight and the heartbroken devotees could not perform the rituals. Following such irregularities, the government in 2018 restricted 64 such agencies to operate Hajj pilgrims. We must say the government should scrutinise and monitor Hajj agencies and punish those who are involved in irregularities. Besides, the Hajj aspirants should be sensitised about where to register, how to perform and in an emergency what should they do. The Bangladesh mission in the kingdom should arduously work during the annual rituals of Muslims so that the devotees feel safe and comfortable while performing Hajj and their return journey to the country.
