Govt employees sent to Saudi to during hajj to serve country's pilgrims: Religious Affairs Minister 

Religious Affairs Minister Faridul Haque Khan on Tuesday told the Parliament that the government officers and employees are sent to Saudi Arabia for hajj management and providing services to the Bangladeshi pilgrims, not for performing hajj.

"The government officers/employees are sent to Saudi Arabia under various teams to discharge the duties for hajj management and providing services to hajj pilgrims……They are not sent to perform hajj at the cost of government funds," he said.

The minister said this in reply to a question from independent lawmaker Mohammad Saiful Islam (Dhaka-19) during the question-answer session in the House.

He said medical centers and clinics are run to provide medical services to Bangladeshi hajj pilgrims.

He said the government officials or employees (Hajj delegation team, Hajj administrative team, Hajj medical team, Hajj technical team and Hajj administrative support team) are sent to Saudi Arabia for the purpose of serving the Hajj pilgrims in Mina-Arafat-Muzdalifah-Jamarah, Makkah and Madinah.

The Religious Affairs minister said the government team members render proper medical and other services to Bangladeshi pilgrims including elderly ones  hailing from the very remote places of Bangladesh.

"Actions are also taken against them if they (government officers/employees) neglect their duties," he said.

Saiful Islam in his question said every year government officials/employees go for hajj with government money. The government fund or money is the public money. He asked the minister if performing hajj by spending other people's money will be valid and how much the officials/employees serve the pilgrims there.

Responding to a question from independent lawmaker Moshiur Rahman Mollah Shajal, the Religious Affairs minister said despite the government's desire it was not possible to reduce the cost of hajj as the value of Saudi Riyal went high due to the rise of the dollar rate.

He said Bangladesh is the fourth largest hajj pilgrim sending country in the world.

In 2024, the quota of hajj pilgrims for Bangladesh is 127,198, he said adding a normal hajj package of Tk578,840 has been announced for the year, reducing the package by Tk92,450 from 2023 so that people from all walks of life can go to perform the hajj.

In reply to another question from independent lawmaker Mohiuddin Maharaj (Pirojpur-2), the Religious Affairs minister said there are some 300,000 mosques in the country.

Noting that the number of imams and muezzins of these mosques is some seven lakhs, Faridul Haque said in the current economic context, it is not possible to provide allowance to this large manpower now. This matter will be considered in future, he said.