Cabinet okays Hajj and Umrah Policy

The cabinet today approved the draft of "The National Hajj and Umrah Policy, Hijri 1435 (2014 AD)" and "The Hajj Package, 2014". The approval was given at the regular meeting of the cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan briefed reporters. The cabinet secretary said a total of 1,01,758 Bangladeshis will perform Hajj this year. Of them, he said, 10,000 pilgrims will perform Hajj under the government arrangement, while 91,758 pilgrims will perform Hajj under the private arrangement. Bhuiyan said the cabinet also okayed the drafts of "The Rangamati Hill District Council (Amendment) Law, 2014", "The Bandarban Hill District Council (Amendment) Law, 2014" and "The Khagrachhari Hill District Council (Amendment) Law, 2014". Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said that the proposed Umrah Policy has been added to the existing Hajj policy. He said that a total of 1,01,758 Bangladeshis will perform Hajj this year. Of them, he said, some 10,000 pilgrims will perform Hajj under the government arrangement, while 91,758 under the private arrangement. Under the government management, there will be two packages. In the package one, the total cost will stand at about TK 3,54,316 while TK 2,95,776 for the package two. The total cost may vary due to the fluctuation of exchange rate of the US dollar and Saudi Riyal. For both the packages, the cost of qurbani (animal sacrifice) of around TK 10,500 will be added to the total cost. In case of private management, the minimum cost should not be less than TK 2,95,776 so that minimum facilities could be ensured for the pilgrims. The Cabinet Secretary said that the number of hajj pilgrims is less in the current year than the previous year as Saudi government has reduced the quota for hajj pilgrims by 20 percent due to massive renovation works at the Haram Sharif, according to UNB and BSS.