‘No scope to reduce cost of hajj package’

Amid widespread criticism over the exorbitant cost of hajj packages this year, the religious affairs ministry today said there is no scope for the government to reduce the cost.

Abul Kasem, deputy secretary of religious affairs ministry said this while talking to reporters at his office at the Secretariat.

The final deadline for hajj registration is set to end tonight but with the high cost of the packages it is likely that this year's quota of intended hajj pilgrims won't be filled up.

Due to poor response from hajj pilgrims, the religious affairs ministry has so far extended the deadline for registration three times.

According to the hajj office in the city's Ashkona, a total of 1,00,562 pilgrims have completed their registration as of now against a quota of 1.27 lakh.

Of them, 90,995 people will go to hajj under private management while 9,567 will go to hajj under the government management.

As per the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, 1.27 lakh Bangladeshis are supposed to get the opportunity to perform hajj this year but due to the high cost of hajj package, many have found it difficult to arrange the money and complete the registration, said Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh.

Even after increasing the deadline for registration three times, the government has still not managed to get the desired response.

A Bangladeshi will have to spend around Tk 7 lakh to perform hajj under private and government management this year, up by around Tk 1.61 lakh from the previous year.