Bangladesh falls short of its hajj quota despite offering 'special opportunity'

Even after offering a one-day "special opportunity" for hajj registration yesterday, this year's hajj quota of 1.27 lakh people is yet to be fulfilled.

Due to poor response from the intended hajis, the government earlier extended the deadline for hajj registration eight times since it started on February 8.

Following a request from Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB), the Ministry of Religious Affairs gave the special offer to complete hajj registration under government and private management yesterday.

But sources at the hajj office at the city's Ashkona Hajj Camp today told The Daily Star that only 39 intended hajis completed registration under the government management while 757 completed registrations under the private hajj management.

This is the last chance for hajj registration this year, a press release of the ministry said yesterday.

According to the agreement between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, a total of 1.27 lakh Bangladeshis will get the opportunity to perform hajj this year.

Of the total, 15,000 people will perform hajj under the government hajj management while 1.12 lakh will perform hajj under the private hajj management.

Sources at the hajj office said even after the one-day special opportunity, the total number of people who have completed hajj registration stood at 1,20,491 meaning that around 6,500 of the hajj quota is still unfulfilled.

Of the people who have completed registration, 10,074 will perform hajj under the government management while 1,10,417 people will perform hajj under private management.

While talking to The Daily Star, leaders of HAAB and Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) said the hajj quota will remain unfulfilled this year even if more chances for registration are given.

HAAB and ATAB leaders said their business will be affected if the hajj quota is not fulfilled.

Failure to fulfil the hajj quota may result in the Saudi government reducing the quota next year, they feared.

The HAAB and ATAB leaders said despite huge interest among people, they did not register due to the high cost of hajj packages this year.

Abdus Salam Aref, general secretary of ATAB said this was the first time that the hajj quota was not fulfilled, and many intended pilgrims told them that they were finding it difficult to manage the huge amount of money to perform hajj this year.

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

Apart from this, each pilgrim will have to pay about Tk 22,000 for a Qurbani coupon from the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia. The amount is used for meeting the expenses for sacrificing animals.

HAAB and ATAB leaders said a Bangladeshi pilgrim will have to spend around Tk 8 to 9 lakh on an average to complete all the formalities of hajj this year, for which many intended hajis are finding it difficult to collect the money.

Both ATAB and HAAB leaders said this year's airfare was very high and that is why the costs of hajj packages have increased significantly.

"The airfare of Biman was Tk 1.40 lakh last year. But this year it is around Tk 1.98 lakh which is very high," said HAAB President M Shahadat Hossain Taslim.

Sources at the HAAB and ATAB said the airfare is around Tk 1.25 lakh in India and it is less than Tk 1 lakh in Pakistan.

"In the past, people were busy looking for hajj agencies to complete their registration. But this year, we are running after intended hajis to complete hajj formalities. But we are not getting due response from people," said Abdus Salam Aref, ATAB secretary general.

This year, hajj will be held on June 27 depending on the sighting of the moon and hajj flight to carry pilgrims to Saudi Arabia will begin from May 21.