Hajj fair begins Friday at BICC

A four-day Hajj and Umrah fair begins Friday at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the city, aiming to make easier the process of Islamic pilgrimage.

The Hajj Association of Bangladesh (HAB) will organize the fair for the sixth time. It will remain open from 9:00am to 8:00pm till January 5.

HAB president Ibrahim Bahar informed the media at a press conference held at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in city Tuesday about the fair objectives.

State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal will inaugurate the fair, he said.

Mr Bahar said that they have been working for modernizing the existing hajj process and making it free from "the harassment by brokers and middlemen".

Those who wish to perform hajj can glean necessary information from the familiarization fair.

The registration for hajj started on December 15. The intending pilgrims have to pay the registration money by February 5, 2015.

He also said, "All the money has to be paid by June 10."

Pilgrims will need to spend Tk 296,206 for performing hajj under non-government arrangement.

The HAB also hopes to organise such fair in Chittagong and Sylhet.

HAB vice-president Aftab Uddin Chowdhury, secretary-general Sheikh Abdullah and joint secretary Farid Ahmed were also present at the conference.

A total of 100,001 people from Bangladesh will have the opportunity to perform the holy hajj next year. Of them, 10,000 will go under government management and the rest through private agencies.

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