Haab to agitate for third carrier

Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (Haab) yesterday threatened to wage tougher agitations if the government does not meet its demands by June 10.
The demands include allowing a third carrier and cancelling the newly introduced quota system for carrying hajj pilgrims.
At a press conference in the capital's Jatiya Press Club, Haab President Mohammad Ibrahim Bahar demanded that previous rules for carrying hajj pilgrims be reinstated.
According to previous rules, each agency was entitled to send a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 400 pilgrims. But the government has fixed 150 as the minimum limit for an agency this year, he said.
Between 2001 and 2012, a total of 404 agencies got permissions to send pilgrims. But the government has given licences to 800 more agencies this year, Bahar said.
Some of the agencies will incur a huge loss as they will not be able to manage 150 pilgrims, he added.
Pointing out some mismanagements of carrying hajj pilgrims by Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines, the Haab president said, “If a third carrier is not introduced, the pilgrims will go through the same uncertainty they faced last year.”
A total of 1,27,198 pilgrims will go for this year's hajj. Biman will carry 50 percent of the pilgrim, while the Saudi Arabian Airlines will carry the rest. But Saudi Arabia Airlines can carry maximum 40,000 passengers in a hajj season. So, there will be a flight crisis if the government does not engage a third airline to carry the pilgrims this year, Bahar said.