Staff Reporter :
The Hajj pilgrims are going to get four more days to complete their registrations by February 6 to perform the Hajj in Mecca this year.
Ministry of Religious Affairs on Friday confirmed it to the media, stating that it would help those who not yet completed their registration yet.
The ministry has directed the aspirant Hajj pilgrims to log their registration by this time as it would be the last opportunity for them.
“The Hajj registration period has been extended for the last time. The pilgrims have to complete the registration by February 6. Primarily a pilgrim has to deposit Tk 2.5 lakh in the bank to complete the primary registration. Even one can pay for the full package to complete the final registration,” Ministry’s Public Relation Officer Abu Bakkar Siddique told the media.
After the completion of the primary registration, the rest of the package money has to be paid by February 29 in the same bank for the final registration.
Otherwise, the pilgrim will not be able to attend the Hajj this year and he or she will not get back the money used for the primary registration, he said.
Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) earlier on February 1 sent a letter the Ministry of Religious Affairs requesting to extend the time for the registration.
The HAAB said that a total of 71,689 individuals completed their registration through private arrangement on Thursday.
The payment vouchers of approximately 4,100 pilgrims are still pending, it further mentioned.
Different Hajj agencies informed the HAAB that numerous Hajj pilgrims could not complete their registration due to the server glitches on January 31.
In the letter HAAB mentioned that they have also reports that many Hajj pilgrims had difficulties in obtaining passports in time and failed to complete the registration.
So the government had been requested to extend some more times for the pilgrims allowing them to complete the primary registration for the last time, it said.
Following such request, the ministry has extended the date for registration till February 6.
The government extended the time for registration for the fourth time when the registration started on September 16.
Sources said that the ministry has been extending the time again and again as the response for registration was not satisfactory this time.
According to the Hajj Portal of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, this year a total of 1,27,198 pilgrims can perform Hajj, but till Thursday a total of 79,862 individuals have been registered.
Of them, 4165 pilgrims have completed registration through government management and 75,697 through private management. Still 47,336 slots are still vacant.