16 agencies yet to send any pilgrim

The religious affairs ministry yesterday gave a 48-hour “final ultimatum” to 16 hajj agencies for completing all procedures to send around 3,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia by August 26.

The agencies are yet to send a single pilgrim to Saudi Arabia, although most of them have been granted visas.

The ministry issued another two-day ultimatum to some other hajj agencies to submit necessary documents to the Saudi hajj authorities to get visas of around 1,100 pilgrims. 

It warned the private tour operators of taking punitive actions, including cancellation of licence, if the ultimatums were not met, Abdul Jalil, secretary of the religious affairs ministry, told The Daily Star last night.

Saiful Islam, director at Ashkona Hajj Camp, said they sat with the representatives of the 16 hajj agencies at the camp yesterday.

“All but three agencies have pledged to complete all procedures within August 26. We have asked the three hajj agencies to appear before us tomorrow [today] and submit evidence of ticket booking,” he added.

Quoting top officials of the Bangladesh Hajj Mission in Saudi Arabia, the religious affairs secretary said 1,26,067 out of the total 1,27,198 pilgrims have already applied for visa. Of them, 1.20 lakh have received visas so far.

“I strongly believe there will be no problem in sending all the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia,” he added.

Earlier, the religious affairs ministry had issued an ultimatum to 367 hajj agencies to complete all the procedures by August 10 to send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon expressed concern over sending all the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia within the August 26 deadline.

According to him, around 15,000 were yet to get visas due to irresponsibility of a section of hajj agencies.

He was talking to reporters at the Hajj Camp after holding a meeting with top Biman officials at its headquarters in the city's Kurmitola.

Menon said stern actions would be taken against the hajj agencies if they failed to secure visas and send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia within August 26.

“We will not spare those hajj agencies who showed negligence, non-cooperation and created obstacles to sending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia…. We will take legal actions against the hajj agencies concerned.” 

About negligence of a section of hajj agencies, the minister said they heard that many tour operators rented houses and hotels in Saudi Arabia from August 20. That's why they were not sending pilgrims despite having visas.

“If it is true, then Biman will be under tremendous pressure to operate additional hajj flights to tackle the heavy rush of pilgrims from August 20 due to shortage of aircraft,” he said.

“That's why we have asked the hajj agencies to send those pilgrims who have got visas.”

Menon informed reporters that Biman Bangladesh Airlines would apply to the Saudi Arabian authorities to extend the pre-hajj flight operation deadline from August 26 to August 28.

The national carrier would also request them to grant it permission to operate seven additional hajj flights, he added.

The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority already gave permission to Biman to operate 14 additional hajj flights as the airline cancelled 22 flights which could have carried over 8,800 pilgrims.

Menon said, if necessary, Biman would cut the number of flights or cancel flights on different routes, including Dubai, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Muscat and Riyadh, to complete operations of hajj flights.

As of 8:00am yesterday, 62,508 pilgrims were sent to Saudi Arabia for hajj.