A syndicate of some Hajj agency owners in a nexus with some corrupt Biman Bangladesh and Saudi Arabian Airlines officials are allegedly planning to pocket around Tk 80 crore by selling tickets in the name of replacing Hajj pilgrims’ tickets at the last moment. This is another reason for cancellation of a record number of Hajj flights this year, sources close to the trade pointed out.
They say this ticket syndicate is doing monopoly business and pilgrims and owners of a number of agencies are forced to pay extra tk 6000-8000 per ticket.
Both the airlines have already cancelled 30 flights due to shortage of Hajj pilgrims.
A total of 63,000 pilgrims, out of 1,27,198, left Bangladesh for Saudi Arabia until Sunday to perform Hajj, Shahadat Hossain Taslim, Secretary General of the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) told The New Nation.
The Saudi embassy has issued visas to 84,418 pilgrims, he added. He claimed it is not true that Biman has lost Tk.40 crore in revenue following cancellation of flights. “How could the airlines have lost the revenue without carrying any pilgrim?” he wondered.
Both Biman and Saudi airlines are doing monopoly business in the name of carrying Hajj passengers, the HAAB Secretary General said, adding, “Saudi Airlines is charging US$300 per replacement of passenger.”
As per a deal between Biman Bangladesh and Saudi Arabian Airlines, both airlines would carry half of Hajj pilgrims this year. Of the 127,198 Hajj aspirants, Saudi Arabian Airlines will carry about 65000 Bangladeshi pilgrims this year and Biman the rest.
To get Hajj ticket of Saudi Airlines for sales depends on the sales ratio of Umrah, labour and visit visa tickets round the year by the selected agencies. According to sales, the airlines fixes top 30 agencies and they get 20 percent Hajj tickets for sales during the Hajj period.
As per rule, each selected agency will get maximum 2000-3000 Hajj tickets for sales. But it is alleged that Mizanur Rahman, owner of Sunshine Express, also a syndicate member, already got about 20,000 tickets. How could he get such a number of Saudi Arabian Airlines tickets, depriving other HAAB members, the people engaged in the trade questioned.
“We issued a notice to all agency owners on August 18 to inform them that all kinds of replacement have been suspended to ensure sits for registered pilgrims”, Omar Khayyam, sales and marketing manager of the Dhaka Office of Saudi Arabian Airlines, told The New Nation on Monday, when his attention was drawn to the allegation. Khayyam denied the allegation.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Hajj Pilgrims and Hajji Welfare Council has demanded that the government form a one-member judicial committee, led by a High Court judge, to probe the Hajj mismanagement because of the ticket syndicate.
“We are requesting the government to form a one-member judicial probe committee, led by a High Court justice, to look into the Hajj mismanagement. Legal action should be taken against the culprits,” said Dr Abdullah Al Naser, the council president.
The Biman authorities have distributed 63,000 air tickets among 104 agencies, instead of 635 operating agencies, he said, adding that 50-100 tickets were allocated for 70 agencies, while 1,000-10,000 tickets each were distributed among 34 agencies so far. “The Biman authorities have also given tickets to those who are not sending pilgrims,” Naser alleged.
He said most of the pilgrims will have to fly between August 22 and 24 as houses have been rented in Saudi Arabia in that way. “If they fly now, the system won’t allow them to enter Saudi Arabia,” he added.
“The government is trying to send all the pilgrims smoothly to Saudi Arabia and 62,743 have left Dhaka for Saudi Arabia”, Abdul Jalil, Secretary of the Religious Affairs Ministry, told this correspondent on Monday.
“We’ve sent letters to Biman Bangladesh and Saudi Arabian Airlines authorities, asking them to make a list of agencies who had got tickets on the cancelled flights. But we’re yet to get it. Once we get the list, we’ll take action against the errant agency owners,” the religious secretary said.
