Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry cancelled nine hajj flights on Tuesday, out of total 177 flights, over visa complications. Visa complications may affect around 40,000 pilgrims while the passports of 85,000 pilgrims have still not reached the Hajj office. Representatives of different hajj agents could not go to Saudi Arabia as the ministry has not paid their fee. Each hajj pilgrim has deposited Tk 30,752 to the ministry during their pre-registration. Of them, Tk 20,351 was supposed to be sent to Saudi Arabia for Muallem fee through concerned agencies but the ministry delayed to send the money. So every Hajj agency will have to pay additional Tk 3,672 for each Hajj pilgrim’s Muallem fee.
The anomalies in this situation regarding thousands of Hajj pilgrims have come to light just before the Hajj flights. The ministry concern promised to take stern action against those responsible but why would the pilgrims pay for their negligence. Around 127,798 Bangladeshis will perform hajj this year, of which 5,800 will go under the government management, while rest 121,998 will go under private arrangement. State carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines authorities instructed that, from now on, all the hajj agencies will have to confirm the visas and plane tickets 72 hours before the day of flight.
Processing the enormous number of hajj pilgrims is a hard task but systematic management and procedural steps eases the task which become mismatched each year. The government should ensure the smooth management of hajj.
