Staff Correspondent:
Religious Affairs Advisor Dr. AFM Khalid Hossain said that he has performed his duties with transparency, accountability and honesty. He commented that reducing Hajj airfare by Tk 40,000 in stages in the last two years is a significant achievement of the Religious Affairs Ministry.
The Religious Affairs Advisor said this during a discussion with journalists at the Secretariat on Tuesday (February 10).
He said that no one was taken to Hajj at government expense last year, and no one will be taken this year either. He also said that this year, Hajj pilgrims will get a refund of more than Tk 30 million.
The Religious Affairs Advisor said that the preparations for Hajj have been satisfactory so far. He claimed that about 95 percent of the ministry’s activities have been successful.
Dr. AFM Khalid Hossain said, “For the past one and a half years, I have tried to perform my duties with utmost transparency, accountability and honesty. My goal was to make all-out efforts to make the Ministry of Religious Affairs and its subordinate departments and organizations active, dynamic and fruitful. I have tried to ensure a favorable environment for officials and employees to work with professionalism and honesty.”
Stating that there have been positive changes in Hajj management after the July Revolution, he said, work has been done keeping in mind the public desire to perform Hajj at a reasonable cost. Through multiple discussions and negotiations with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, it was possible to reduce the airfare for the 2025 Hajj by about 27 thousand taka. This year, the airfare has been reduced by about 13 thousand taka compared to last year.
He said that the airfare for the 2024 Hajj was 1 lakh 94 thousand 800 taka, which has reduced to 1 lakh 54 thousand taka in the 2026 Hajj. He also said that efforts were ongoing to further reduce airfares.
The religious advisor said, “Last year, 82.8 million taka was returned as surplus to the pilgrims who performed Hajj through the government. In addition, from 2017 to 2024, about 380 million taka of unspent Hajj agencies, which were deposited as IBNs of the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, have been returned through continuous communication and given to the concerned agencies.”
Regarding Waqf administration, Dr. AFM Khalid Hossain said that it was not possible to achieve the expected success in this sector due to manpower shortage and administrative complications. He admitted that despite having thousands of acres of Waqf assets across the country, significant progress could not be made in this regard.
