62 errant agencies banned from

The government has decided not to allow 62 private agencies, out of 324, to operate Hajj management this year as they were found to have been involved in various irregularities and cheating in the previous year. ‘Deposits of 11 Hajj agencies have been confiscated and licences of 51 agencies have been suspended for two years with their deposits being confiscated. These agencies will not be allowed to manage Hajj pilgrimage in private sector as investigations have found that they were involved in various irregularities and deceived many Hajj pilgrims last year’, religious affairs secretary Mohammad Ataur Rahman said at a press briefing at the secretariat on Sunday. He said the ministry had taken the actions against the Hajj agencies in line with the latest national Hajj policy. Asked about the pressure from the Hajj Agencies’ Association of Bangladesh for withdrawal of the decision, the secretary said, ‘We will stick to the decision and will not give in to any such pressure.’ He, however, said the deadline for submitting application forms has been extended by one week from July 6. On Friday, the HAAB threatened to go for movement if the government did not withdraw within 48 hours the decision banning 62 agencies from Hajj management. There are widespread allegations that hundreds of people are deceived by the private Hajj agencies every year and many of the pilgrims even cannot go to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj rituals even after depositing the whole money. On March 16, the religious affairs ministry announced the Hajj Package 2008 for pilgrimage to Makkah in December through both the government and approved Hajj agencies, raising the airfare to $1,350 from 1,250 for each pilgrim to and from Saudi Arabia. The total charge for each balloted pilgrim ranges between Tk 1,99,112 and Tk 2,16,782 this year be deposited by July 13. The secretary said a total of 232 private Hajj agencies were allowed to offer Hajj package this year. The number of Hajj passengers this year is expected to be 65,000, of them 15,000 are balloted [under government arrangement]. According to the latest Hajj policy, each agency must sign two agreements on non-judicial stamps – with the religious affairs ministry and with the individual pilgrim – mentioning the facilities to be provided by the agencies. Each agency must also provide guides for the pilgrims and hold orientation sessions in the Hajj Camp in Dhaka. The agencies will not be able to receive any money without signing the agreement with individual pilgrims on the prescribed form which, the officials believe, will help check irregularities in Hajj management this year.