Almost a thousand hajj aspirants are being denied the chance of making the pilgrimage this year as many of them are yet to secure airline tickets while some have not yet received their visas.
The failure to get air tickets has shattered the hopes of at least 500 hajj aspirants, even though they all received visa from the Saudi Embassy and have already paid for their accommodation in Saudi Arabia along with muallim fee.
Sources at the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) also told the Dhaka Tribune that a further 300 people cannot go on hajj this year for not getting their Saudi visas in time.
Our Sylhet correspondent also reports that at least 51 hajj aspirants from Sylhet are unable to fly to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage, allegedly because of negligence of their travel agents.
Visiting the Askona Hajj camp in Uttara yesterday, the Dhaka Tribune found more than 200 pilgrims who had secured visas but did not have an airline ticket.
AFM Sahabuddin, a retired school teacher who has been waiting at the hajj camp for five days, said: “Seventy aspirants registered for hajj under Faruq Travels. But only 33 of them got visa and plane tickets, but the other 37 got the visa but no plane ticket.”
Faruq Ahmed, the owner of that travel agency, tld the Dhaka Tribune: “I have deposited Tk1.65 crore for those 70 pilgrims to the HAAB office. But still I do not get plane ticket for 37 [of those pilgrims] from HAAB. I am running after them [HAAB] for the last three days but they cannot provide me the tickets.”
A similar situation was also found to be true for 49 hajj aspirants who registered under Al- Falah travels, 47 registered under Al-Mabrur Travels, 49 under Al-Fattah & Tours, 45 under Al-Raiyan Overseas. All of them were found waiting at the hajj camp for plane tickets.
The secretary general of HAAB, Sheikh Abdullah, however denied the HAAB’s culpability on the matter.
“From the 5,000 extra allotted pilgrims to attend hajj this year, 4,700 have already got the visa. But 300 cannot get the visa and attend the hajj this year.
“Yesterday [Sunday] we went to Saudi Embassy regarding those 300 pilgrims, but as the embassy server was closed we could not find a solution regarding them,” said Abdullah.
Asked about the fate of those without airline tickets, the HAAB boss added: “All those who are yet to get the plane ticket will get it by today (Monday) and can attend hajj by the last flights at 4:15pm and 4:40pm. As already 1,100 pilgrims visa processing is going on. ”
Meanwhile, when asked about the crisis, Religious Affairs Secretary Chowdhury Babul Hasan told the Dhaka Tribune to contact the minister and the HAAB to find the solution.
