The private Hajj agencies of the country have been given chance to replace highest 10 percent of their pilgrims who have registered for pilgrimage in this Hajj season.
The agencies would be able to apply for the replacement till April 27 beginning from Monday, according to a circular of the Religious Affairs Ministry issued on Sunday.
However, the replacement can only be done for those who have already died after registration or fallen sick or unable to perform Hajj this year due to various reasons.
In a ministry press release, issued by the Ministrys Public Relation Officer Abu Bakar Siddik, it was said that the agencies must inform about the replacement on priority basis.
The release, however, stated that if any kind of allegation is received about replacement without informing the registered pilgrims or their families, legal actions would be taken in accordance with the provisions of the Hajj and Umrah Management Law, 2021.
In another circular, the ministry also asked the pilgrims intending to perform Hajj this year will need their reports of Urine R/M/E, R.B.S, X-Ray Chest P/A view, ECG, Serum Creatinine, CBC with ESR, Blood Grouping and Rh Typing test with them for receiving vaccines before leaving Dhaka for Hajj.
The circular stated that the reports must have to be taken within three months before the pre-departure vaccination. To conduct the tests, the government selected 80 public medical centers including Civil Surgeons offices of all districts and important hospitals in Dhaka and divisional headquarters.
In 2024, Saudi Arabia had permitted 127,198 pilgrims from Bangladesh to make the trip. Of this group, 10,198 could travel using the package offered by the government, while the rest will travel under packages from private companies.
But, a third of Hajj quota, 44,043 allocated to Bangladesh remained unsold within the deadline given for registering the pilgrims.
At the end of the deadline February 7 this year, 4,260 had signed up for government travel packages and 78,895 had registered for private travel packages.
