Each pilgrim has to pay Tk 3.6 lakh

Hajj pilgrims will have to spend Tk 3.6 lakh each for performing the holy hajj under government management this year.

The decision came at the weekly cabinet meeting at the secretariat yesterday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the amount was fixed while approving the draft of the National Hajj and Umrah Policy 2016 and Hajj Package 2016.

Besides, the amount is Tk 3.05 lakh for the pilgrims performing the ritual without the cost of sacrificial animal, he said.

The cabinet secretary said there would be a hike of Tk 5,274 and Tk 7,740 for the two packages respectively due to a rise in US dollar in the local market.

He said a total of 1,13,868 hajj pilgrims would perform the hajj this year. Of them, 5,000 pilgrims would go under government management, while the rest under private management.

Shafiul said Tk 1.55 lakh has been fixed this year as basic expenditure for the private hajj management. The amount was Tk 1.48 lakh last year.

The cabinet discussed the irregularities in luggage handling by the airlines concerned during the last hajj season and asked the authorities concerned to strictly look into the matter so that such cases do not recur in future, he added.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to relax quota restrictions to fill up 672 vacant posts for technical and professional cadres of 34th BCS examination through the merit list of general candidates of 35th BCS.

General candidates from 35th BCS merit list will be taken for these posts, in addition to 1,803 vacant posts for the batch, Shafiul said, adding that the same would happen in case of 35th BCS examination.

The fourth quarterly report of the cabinet meeting was placed before the cabinet yesterday. A total of 99 decisions were taken in 11 meetings of the cabinet in October-December last year. Of them, 65 were implemented while the remaining 34 are under the process of implementation, said the cabinet secretary.

He said 311 decisions were taken in 2015, and 245 the previous year.

At the meeting, Finance Minister AMA Muhith informed the prime minister about the World Bank's interest in financing different development projects, meeting sources said.