The missing Hajj mismanagement file

Almost every year, the religious affairs ministry performs its most important duty of sending and bringing home the Hajj pilgrims in a slipshod manner

It is very surprising that the religious affairs ministry has lost documents involving corruption against some religious affairs ministry officials who were allegedly involved in embezzling government funds. The stealing of the documents does not bode well for Bangladesh bureaucracy against which a lot of complaints are often levelled. According to a report published in this newspaper yesterday the funds embezzled include loans for ‘moallem’ (guide) fees for the Hajj pilgrims of the last year.
While doubts are being thrown at the former religious affairs secretary Chowdhury Babul Hassan—he is currently serving as the social welfare secretary—and his former personal secretary and personal officer, these are only doubts and are not solid evidences. Now it is the responsibility of the religious affairs ministry authorities to find out how the corruption documents could go missing and who are responsible for it.
Almost every year, the religious affairs ministry performs its most important duty of sending and bringing home the Hajj pilgrims in a slipshod manner. Last year, after the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s request, Saudi Arabia allowed 5,000 extra pilgrims to go to perform Hajj from Bangladesh under the official quota. And there was furore that the former religious affairs secretary, Chowdhury Babul Hassan, in collusion with the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) sent a good number of newly registered pilgrims instead of those who were already in the quota.
According to the report, the files of management of these 5000 pilgrims have gone missing. Now the persons responsible for keeping the documents of Hajj pilgrims must be held accountable for the missing of files. Unless this can be done, the corruption involved in the last year’s Hajj pilgrims’ management cannot be unearthed.
In Bangladesh’s bureaucracy, at every step from the lowest level to the top, there is indeed a system of accountability mechanism, yet the bureaucracy here is notorious for its mismanagement and corruption. In the religious affairs ministry, even the money accumulated by the poor devotees for the purpose of Hajj is gobbled up by the ministry’s corrupt government officials.
This money these devotees often gather painfully often by selling valuable assets of their family. And these pilgrims deserve proper management of Hajj each year which they are denied. It is expected now that the religious affairs ministry would be able to manage this very important annual event smoothly in the coming years overcoming its shortcomings.     

The missing Hajj mismanagement file

Almost every year, the religious affairs ministry performs its most important duty of sending and bringing home the Hajj pilgrims in a slipshod manner

It is very surprising that the religious affairs ministry has lost documents involving corruption against some religious affairs ministry officials who were allegedly involved in embezzling government funds. The stealing of the documents does not bode well for Bangladesh bureaucracy against which a lot of complaints are often levelled. According to a report published in this newspaper yesterday the funds embezzled include loans for moallem (guide) fees for the Hajj pilgrims of the last year. While doubts are being thrown at the former religious affairs secretary Chowdhury Babul Hassanhe is currently serving as the social welfare secretaryand his former personal secretary and personal officer, these are only doubts and are not solid evidences. Now it is the responsibility of the religious affairs ministry authorities to find out how the corruption documents could go missing and who are responsible for it. Almost every year, the religious affairs ministry performs its most important duty of sending and bringing home the Hajj pilgrims in a slipshod manner. Last year, after the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas request, Saudi Arabia allowed 5,000 extra pilgrims to go to perform Hajj from Bangladesh under the official quota. And there was furore that the former religious affairs secretary, Chowdhury Babul Hassan, in collusion with the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) sent a good number of newly registered pilgrims instead of those who were already in the quota. According to the report, the files of management of these 5000 pilgrims have gone missing. Now the persons responsible for keeping the documents of Hajj pilgrims must be held accountable for the missing of files. Unless this can be done, the corruption involved in the last years Hajj pilgrims management cannot be unearthed. In Bangladeshs bureaucracy, at every step from the lowest level to the top, there is indeed a system of accountability mechanism, yet the bureaucracy here is notorious for its mismanagement and corruption. In the religious affairs ministry, even the money accumulated by the poor devotees for the purpose of Hajj is gobbled up by the ministrys corrupt government officials. This money these devotees often gather painfully often by selling valuable assets of their family. And these pilgrims deserve proper management of Hajj each year which they are denied. It is expected now that the religious affairs ministry would be able to manage this very important annual event smoothly in the coming years overcoming its shortcomings.