Hajj registration deadline extended till 21 March

The government has extended the deadline for Hajj registration till March 21 as the quota of pilgrims has not been fulfilled.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs issued a notice Thursday (16 March), announcing the extension of registration deadline.

This year, the Saudi government has set the hajj quota for Bangladesh at 1.27 lakh. However, as of Thursday, only 1.11 lakh people have completed the registration process.

The ministry also instructed the relevant authorities to lower the air fares for hajj pilgrims to a reasonable level.

According to hajj agencies and travel agents, the increase in hajj cost is due to higher expenses on both the Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia sides.

The Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (Haab) has mainly blamed Biman Bangladesh Airlines for the high air fare that has driven up the total cost of the hajj package.

The airfare was fixed at Tk1.97 lakh this year while it was Tk1.40 lakh in 2022.

The High Court on Wednesday asked Attorney General AM Amin Uddin to take initiative to reduce the Hajj package cost.

The HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Ali gave the order after hearing the Ministry of Religion's explanation regarding the high Hajj cost this year.

On Tuesday the court questioned how common people will perform hajj at the cost of the package set by the government. 

It questioned "Why doesn't the government allocate budgets for the hajj like other countries in the world?" 

The HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Ali came up with this observation while hearing a writ petition over revising the hajj package offered by the government this year.

Earlier on 1 February, the Ministry of Religious Affairs announced the hajj package for 2023 in a memorandum. According to the package, a person has to pay a hefty amount of Tk 6.83 lakh to perform hajj this year - up from Tk 5.22 lakh in 2022.