Hajj flights to begin July 14

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister AKM Shahjahan Kamal today said the Hajj flights carrying Bangladeshi pilgrims for performing Hajj this year will begin on July 14.

This year, a total of 1,27,198 pilgrims-- 7,198 under government management and 1,20,000 under private management-- will perform Hajj from Bangladesh, said the minister while speaking at a press briefing after holding a meeting with officials of Religious Affairs Ministry, Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) at his office at secretariat here.

Shahjahan said there are two packages-- Taka 3,97,929 for package one and Taka 3,31,359 for package two-- for the hajj travelers under the government management and the flight fair has been fixed at Taka 1,38,191 under these two packages.

He also mentioned that Hajj pilgrims will have to buy some of the mandatory equipment, including particular size of kitbag labeled with Bangladesh national flag by themselves.

The minister said complaints were filed in both Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, against 193 agencies that participated in Hajj related activities in 2017. After getting the complaints, a probe committee was formed to investigate the allegations, he added.

As per the committee's recommendation, he said, the licenses of 64 Hajj agencies were cancelled and the security money was also seized while 17 Hajj agencies were fined with suspension of license.

Apart from this, 49 hajj agencies have been fined, 12 hajj agencies have been alert and other 51 agencies have been suspended from the works related to Hajj programmes, the minister said.

Source: BSS