Corruption in Hajj management
IN the last hajj season, Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) – which is the apex body of the hajj agencies sending pilgrims to Mecca, borrowed fund from the government to deposit fees for an additional 5,000 pilgrims. But it has only partly repaid the fund and used fictitious statements to keep away from making the remaining payment.
Media report said the government is going to take legal action against HAAB for alleged gross irregularities and large-scale financial misappropriation. We feel very sad that people engaged in sending people to annual sacred hajj are resorting to various blackmails and swindling of government fund is not even spared. Such deceitful activities of HAAB are not acceptable and legal actions and punishment of perpetrators are totally justified. But what we want to add here is that the government officials handling the hajj management and associating with such financial frauds should also be charged without respite.
HAAB borrowed Tk 33.38 crore from the government to deposit additional fees for additional pilgrims but it reportedly refunded Tk 16.68 crore to the Ministry of Religious Affairs. But its expenditure statement showed Tk 27.33 crore being paid without mentioning the remaining Tk 6.05 crore. Moreover, HAAB reportedly sent 2,200 extra pilgrims instead of 5,000. It is alleged that during the pilgrims’ registration process, HAAB officials have realized extra fees but the money in most cases was not deposited in the government fund; which was supposed to be adjusted against the loan. However surprisingly the files containing documents of the extra pilgrims and financial irregularities disappeared from the office of the Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in March this year showing the hush up.
It is an open secret that innocent pilgrims are routinely subjected to extortion and cheating; which they tolerate only because they want to perform the hajj. But it is quite unacceptable that dishonest people and their agents should held the hajj management hostage in their hands with support from a vested quarter of ruling party politicians as it also happened in the past. What is shocking is that concerned government officials have also joined hands in the mischief. Thus the sacred religious journey to many is now a lucrative business to others. It has now reached to the point where government fund is exploited and then robbed as the latest situation showed.
In our view this cartel must be nabbed and put on trial. It is important not only to recover the government fund but also to rescue the hajj management from the hands of the dishonest fortune seekers which has now assumed an endemic form.
Media report said the government is going to take legal action against HAAB for alleged gross irregularities and large-scale financial misappropriation. We feel very sad that people engaged in sending people to annual sacred hajj are resorting to various blackmails and swindling of government fund is not even spared. Such deceitful activities of HAAB are not acceptable and legal actions and punishment of perpetrators are totally justified. But what we want to add here is that the government officials handling the hajj management and associating with such financial frauds should also be charged without respite.
HAAB borrowed Tk 33.38 crore from the government to deposit additional fees for additional pilgrims but it reportedly refunded Tk 16.68 crore to the Ministry of Religious Affairs. But its expenditure statement showed Tk 27.33 crore being paid without mentioning the remaining Tk 6.05 crore. Moreover, HAAB reportedly sent 2,200 extra pilgrims instead of 5,000. It is alleged that during the pilgrims’ registration process, HAAB officials have realized extra fees but the money in most cases was not deposited in the government fund; which was supposed to be adjusted against the loan. However surprisingly the files containing documents of the extra pilgrims and financial irregularities disappeared from the office of the Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in March this year showing the hush up.
It is an open secret that innocent pilgrims are routinely subjected to extortion and cheating; which they tolerate only because they want to perform the hajj. But it is quite unacceptable that dishonest people and their agents should held the hajj management hostage in their hands with support from a vested quarter of ruling party politicians as it also happened in the past. What is shocking is that concerned government officials have also joined hands in the mischief. Thus the sacred religious journey to many is now a lucrative business to others. It has now reached to the point where government fund is exploited and then robbed as the latest situation showed.
In our view this cartel must be nabbed and put on trial. It is important not only to recover the government fund but also to rescue the hajj management from the hands of the dishonest fortune seekers which has now assumed an endemic form.
