Hajj returnees� trouble in receiving baggage
Flight delay main reason
Hajj returnees faced harassment over receiving their luggage after landing at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport owing to increased security and limited space for landing of aircraft at Jeddah airport, said pilgrims and their near and dear ones. They said after the Mina accident, the Saudi government had beefed up security for pilgrims and with so many checking formalities before boarding aircraft, flight schedules had gone into disarray.
One Monowar Hossain of Jessore landed at Jeddah airport at 11:30 am (local time) on Sunday and was able to board a Bangladeshi flight BG 6026 only at 10:00 pm the same day. By the grace of Allah, our plane was able to carry our luggage. However,
many pilgrims have to wait for a couple of days at airport terminals or nearby hotels to receive their belongings, he said.
According to an official, some Bangladesh Airlines flights were unable to accommodate all the luggage during Hajj and the same was sent later by another flight. But with Saudi Airlines flights, the trend was different as they had sufficient space for carrying luggage.
On Sunday, more than 50 people who had alighted from BG 036 Friday night were seen waiting at the airport for their luggage. Luckily though, the pilgrims got their luggage in the evening on the same day soon after Civil and Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon visited the airport and gave strict instructions to concerned authorities to ensure all necessary help to Hajj returnees.
Abul Kalam Azad, Deputy Director of the Hajj Camp, said that some of the luggage was stuck at the airport because of poor management while the remaining luggage failed to reach on time.
However, after holding a meeting with the Aviation Minister, we spoke to the concerned authorities about pilgrims woes and they assured us the problems would be fixed soon, he said.
An officer on condition of anonymity said, We tightened monitoring of officials who were out to make an extra buck from passengers and that slowed them down in their duties which might have caused delay in scheduled flights.
Around six Hajj flights were slated to land at the Shahjalal International Airport. Till 3:00pmyesterday, three Hajj flights had landed and pilgrims had to wait for two to three hours to come out of the terminals with their luggage unlike many who had to wait for a long time.
