Hajj reg deadline extended further until March 30

The government has once again extended the deadline for Hajj registration till March 30 as the quota for Bangladesh is yet to be fulfilled due to the high costs of hajj packages.

According to the religious ministry, the total quota of registration for hajj is 15,000 under government management while 1,12,198 under private management.

As of March 27, a total of 1,17,339 people have registered for Hajj. There are still 9,859 empty quotas for registration. Of them, 5,108 empty quotas are under government management and 4751 were empty under private management.

Religious Ministry’s Deputy Secretary Abul Kasem Mohammad Shaheen on Monday told The Business Post that the ministry is not worried because both the government-private and all quotas will be filled by the deadline.

However, the situation has happened because many candidates have not received their passports yet. They will register once they get their passports. Many people informed the matter to the ministry, he said

Amid widespread criticism of the high cost of Hajj packages, the religious affairs ministry, in a circular, announced that the costs of both government and private packages had been reduced by Tk 11,725.

The officials of the Hajj department say that the last date to inform the Saudi government about the number of pilgrims from Bangladesh is May 9. So, there are still 14 more days left. They said that the fixed quota will be fulfilled within the deadline.

The costs of the Hajj package under the government management re-fixed at Tk 6.71 lakh, which was earlier Tk 6.83 lakh while the costs of the package under the private management have been reduced to Tk 6.60 lakh from Tk 6.72 lakh.

The registration for the Hajj started on February 23 and it was extended six times.