Hajj agencies form new association

Shah Alam Nur | Published: April 01, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Shah Alam Nur
The Hajj Agencies of Bangladesh have formed a new association styled "Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB)" to bring the agencies under one umbrella and to prevent any kind of unfair deals with the pilgrims. The HAAB has formed a central committee consisting of 27 members with Jamal Uddin Ahmed as its president and M A Rashid Shah Samrat as the general secretary. The association will soon declare a Hajj package which will include all facilities like housing, food, transport and others. The association will announce the common Hajj package for pilgrims, which is likely to involve slightly more amount of money -- around Tk 260,000 per pilgrim than that of the government. The President of HAAB, Jamal Uddin Ahmed said they will soon hold a meting where the new fee for the Hajj package will be approved and then it will be announced publicly. He also mentioned that the Cabinet recently approved the Hajj Policy 2011, amending the National Hajj Policy 1431-1435 Hijri (2010-2014). Around 0.12 million pilgrims are expected to perform Hajj from Bangladesh this year. November 06 is the tentative date of Hajj which will, however, depend on the sighting of the Zilhaj moon. The cabinet meeting estimated that this year some 15,000 pilgrims would perform Hajj under government management and the rest, under private arrangement. The leaders of the HAAB have urged the people to communicate directly with them (agencies) rather than communicating with any middleman to avoid any kind of misunderstanding and sufferings. The HAAB leaders told the FE that due to some unavoidable circumstances in renting houses in Saudi Arabia, they have to make delay in announcing the Hajj package publicly. "As the Saudi authority is renovating the old buildings near Haram Sharif, we are facing problems to rent houses near it. After completion of the works relating to rental accommodation for those intending to perform Hajj this year in Saudi Arabia, we will announce the package," Mr Ahmed said.