Shawdesh Desk:

Despite the government extending the registration deadline twice, more than half of Bangladesh’s quota for Hajj pilgrims remains unfilled due to a poor response from devotees.

Under the agreement signed between the governments of Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia on January 9, a total of 127,198 people from Bangladesh will be able to perform Hajj this year.

Registration began on February 8 and was initially set to end on February 23, but the deadline was later extended for five days until February 28 and for another seven days until March 7.

As of Monday evening, only 55,954 aspiring pilgrims had registered for the Hajj pilgrimage, of which 8,873 registered under government management and 47,081 registered under private management, according to a source at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The authorities have described the situation as unprecedented and fear that Bangladesh may fail to meet its quota of Hajj pilgrims this year.

Saiful Islam, Director of the Hajj Office Dhaka, told the Daily Sun that he had never heard of such a situation occurring in the country before. He remains hopeful that the number of registered pilgrims will increase before the end of the deadline and added that the government might extend the deadline again, but he has not heard of any plan to offer subsidies to address the situation.

Hajj agencies have said that despite the huge interest of people in performing Hajj, fewer people registered this year due to the high cost of Hajj packages. Maulana Eaqub Sharafaty, Senior Vice-president of the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB), is hopeful that the situation will improve and more Hajj pilgrims will register.

He believes that in the initial stage, Hajj pilgrims sometimes show a lack of interest, but when they manage to raise the money for the pilgrimage, their numbers increase.

Sharafaty blamed Bangladesh Biman for doing monopoly business and determining irrational airfare for Hajjis, which has made the Hajj packages too expensive for many.

He said they will sit with the officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs today to reevaluate the situation and make further decisions. It is worth noting that a Bangladeshi will have to spend at least Tk 6.83 lakh to perform Hajj under government management this year, which is around Tk 2.21 lakh more than last year.

The minimum cost for performing Hajj under private management has been fixed at Tk 6.72 lakh this year, about Tk 1.5 lakh more than that of the previous year.

Additionally, each pilgrim will have to pay about Tk 22,000 for a Qurbani (sacrificing animals) coupon from the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia.

The 2023 edition of Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, will be held on the 9th day of Zillhajj or June 28, depending on moon sighting.