Draft of ‘Hajj and Umrah Policy’ and the Hajj Package approved

The approval was given at the regular meeting of the cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said a proposed Umrah Policy has been added alongside the existing Hajj Policy from this year.

The cabinet secretary said a total of 1, 01,758 Bangladeshis will perform Hajj this year.

Of them, he said, 10,000 will perform Hajj under the government arrangement, while 91,758 will perform Hajj under the private arrangement.

Under the government management, he said, there will be two packages. In the package one, the total cost will stand at about Taka 3,54,316, while Taka 2,95,776 for the package two. The total cost may vary due to exchange rate fluctuation between US dollar and Saudi Riyal, he added.

For both the packages, the cost of "qurbani" (animal sacrifice) of around TK 10,500 would be added to the total cost.

In case of private management, the minimum cost should not be less than TK 2,95,776 to ensure standard facilities for the pilgrims.

The cabinet secretary said the number of hajj pilgrims in the current year would be less than the previous year as the Saudi government has reduced the quota for hajj pilgrims by 20 percent due to massive renovation works in Makkah.

According to Saudi government, the holy Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated on October 4 this year subject to the sighting of moon.

Bhuiyan said the cabinet also approved 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".

The meeting was also apprised of the visit of the Health and Family Welfare Minister to Saudi Arabia and Switzerland from February 9 to 11.

Ministers and state ministers attended the meeting, while secretaries concerned were also present.
Source: BSS