Hajj flights from July 14

The Hajj flights from Bangladeshi to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will begin on July 14.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister AKM Shahjahan Kamal made the disclosure at a programme in the city on Thursday.

This year, a total of 1,27,198 pilgrims -- 7,198 under government management and 1,20,000 under private management -- will perform Hajj from Bangladesh, said the minister while speaking at a press briefing after holding a meeting with officials of Religious Affairs Ministry, Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) at his office at the secretariat.

Shahjahan said there are two packages-- Tk 3,97,929 for package one and Tk 3,31,359 for package two -- for the hajj travellers under the government management and the flight fair has been fixed at Tk 1,38,191 under these two packages.

He also mentioned that Hajj pilgrims will have to buy some of the mandatory equipment, including particular size of kitbag labelled with Bangladesh national flag by themselves.

The minister said complaints were filed in both Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia against 193 agencies that participated in Hajj-related activities in 2017. After getting the complaints, a probe committee was formed to investigate the allegations, he added.

As per the committee's recommendation, he said, the licences of 64 Hajj agencies were cancelled and the security money was also seized while 17 Hajj agencies were fined with suspension of licence.

Apart from this, 49 hajj agencies have been fined, 12 hajj agencies have been alert and other 51 agencies have been suspended from the works related to Hajj programmes, the minister said, reports BSS.