Hajj flights to start Oct 31
This year's hajj flights will begin on October 31, an inter-ministerial meeting decided yesterday.
A Boeing-747 aircraft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd, which will operate 75 hajj flights this year, will fly for Saudi Arabia from Dhaka carrying 542 hajj pilgrims at 4:00pm on October 31, said a press release of the religious affairs ministry.
Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed is expected to inaugurate the hajj flight.
It was disclosed at an inter-ministerial meeting on Hajj and Hajj Camp Management for 2008 presided over by Religious Affairs Adviser AF Hassan Ariff at the ministry's conference room yesterday.
The hajj flights will end on December 2 while the return hajj flights will start on December 12. All necessary information will be available on the website www.bdhajjinfo.org.
"There will be a qualitative change in hajj management this year as necessary preparations were made in advance," said Adviser Hassan Ariff.
Necessary steps were taken early on to rent houses for hajj pilgrims in Mecca and Medina, he said adding that the private hajj agencies have already completed about 60 percent task of renting houses for pilgrims there.
Biman officials at the meeting said they would be able to publish the complete schedule of hajj flights by the next week.
The hajj officer at the Dhaka Hajj Office said they would send letters to the ballotee hajj pilgrims informing them about the date and time of hajj flights after getting the flight schedule.
The hajj officer said necessary steps have already been taken for installing scanning machines, computers and bank booths and also deploying security guards and volunteers at the airport.
Officials concerned of the health department told the meeting that they would form a medical board at the Ashkona hajj camp in the capital's Uttara on October 20.
Islamic Foundation Director General Mohammad Fazlur Rahman and joint secretary of the religious affairs ministry AHM Afzal Hossain, among others, were present.
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