Authorities must punish the agency officials who defrauded with 500 hajj pilgrims
Hajj pilgrims at a demonstration have alleged that an agency in the capital’s Shyampur area has run off with their money paid to the agency for performing the holy Islamic ritual. Victims recently staged a demonstration in front of the office of SN Travels in Jurain area of Shyampur, accusing top officials of the agency of fleeing with the money of 538 pilgrims.
According to the police officials, though the agency took money from more than 500 pilgrims, it could manage a few visas. Pilgrims deposited their money to the agency with the great hope of performing hajj. Saudi Arabia has conditionally organised the Hajj after it was closed off to foreigners for the last two years due to the pandemic. The Gulf kingdom has imposed a number of restrictions, including setting age limits and quotas for each country. As many as 60,146 people have gone to Saudi Arabia from Bangladesh to perform Hajj this year – 4,115 under government management and 55,885 under private agencies. It is very inopportune that pilgrims, who perform hajj with so much hope, not to say spending so much money, have to suffer at every step during the journey due to mismanagement and irresponsibility. After the fiasco of changed flight schedules, and the inadequacy of flights to take outbound passengers for hajj, now on the return journey, we hear of pilgrims who had to suffer due to flight delays.
We observed that over the years, hajj agencies put many devotees in plight and the heartbroken devotees could not perform the rituals. Following such irregularities, the government in 2018 restricted 64 such agencies to operate Hajj pilgrims. We must say the government should scrutinise and monitor Hajj agencies and punish those who are involved in irregularities. Besides, the Hajj aspirants should be sensitised about where to register, how to perform and in an emergency what should they do. The Bangladesh mission in the kingdom should arduously work during the annual rituals of Muslims, thus the devotees feel safe and comfortable while performing Hajj.
