Hajj pilgrims now worried over air tickets
More than 45,000 pilgrims are frustrated and uncertain about their hajj this year as their agents are not confirming their air tickets on time or they have not got their hajj visas yet.
Around 15,000 have not received their visas yet while the rest are waiting for their tickets and flights, sources said.
“Thanks to Allah, I have got my visa. But my new worry is that my hajj agent is not confirming my air ticket and flight,” Saiful Islam, 45, who was waiting at his agent -- Inter-Gulf -- office in Paltan told The Daily Star on Sunday.
Humayun Ahmed was at the agent Air Trip International's office in the same area. His father and aunt have also got their hajj visas.
“We have been asking them repeatedly when my father and aunt's flight will be confirmed. They said the tickets have not been bought yet. They will inform us about the flight after confirming the tickets,” he added.
Visiting other hajj agents' offices in Paltan, The Daily Star correspondents found that intended hajjis or their relatives were demanding the agents confirm their tickets and flights.
Many intended hajjis were seen wandering around the Ashkona Hajj Camp in the capital frustrated over delays in their flights.
“I was brought here three days ago and was told that my flight would be on Friday evening. But it did not happen. Now, I don't know when I will be able to go to Saudi Arabia,” said Wazed Ali, 60, who hailed from Comilla.
His agent took Tk 15,000 extra to confirm his ticket, he alleged. “Many hajjis from our area went to Jeddah by Saudia without paying any extra money. But our agent took it saying that Biman is charging more,” Wazed added.
“My agent then told me that the flight would be this morning [Sunday]. But there is no update on that,” said Nayem Ali, 55, from Brahmanbaria.
The Daily Star could not reach his agent or Biman for comments last night.
His wife, two sons and their wives have also come to see him off but they were waiting at the camp without any information about his flight. “It's painful that there is none to listen to my sufferings … ,” he said.
Around 30,000 pilgrims have already obtained their visas from the Saudi Arabian embassy in Dhaka to perform hajj, said Abu Saleh Mostofa Kamal, director of Dhaka's Ashkona Hajj Office.
“A total of 55,616 hajjis have already flown to Saudi Arabia by this afternoon [Monday]. Over 15,000 hajjis are waiting for their visas,” he said, adding that five to six days were left to get the visas so “these pilgrims will be able to get visas by this time”.
Meanwhile, a total of 483 hajj agents have been asked to submit pilgrims' passports to the embassy for hajj visas by August 28.
“All the mentioned agents have been requested to complete visa procedures for the hajjis as the Royal Saudi embassy will not accept any passport after August 28,” said Kamal.
This year, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia selected 483 agents to handle the hajj activities of 96,558 pilgrims who have registered online. Of them, 143 agents were waiting to get confirmation from the Saudi government to send around 15,000 pilgrims, whose fate hangs in the balance, said sources at Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh.
AKM Masudur Rahman, consular at Bangladesh Hajj Mission in Jeddah, told The Daily Star that only 14 hajj agents could not complete the detailed procedure for their 2,500 to 3,000 pilgrims. The hajj mission is monitoring whether agents are ensuring the promised facilities for the pilgrims, he added.
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