Describing the Hajj Agencies’ Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) as a controversial organisation and its leaders as dishonest people, the parliamentary standing committee on the religious affairs ministry has recommended to the government to change the provision of appending HAAB officials’ counter-signatures on bank statements of Hajj agencies so as to preclude irregularities and corruption in connection with the Hajj. However, the religious affairs ministry has not taken any steps in this regard yet. Senior officials of the ministry have ignored the parliamentary watchdog’s decision.
The parliamentary standing committee’s chairman, Bazlul Haque Harun, MP, also expressed astonishment on seeing the differences in the penalties imposed against corrupt Hajj agency owners. He further pointed out that the religious affairs minister
Motior Rahaman had informed the nation through Jatiya Sangsad that the ministry has realised between Tk. 50 lakh and Tk. 1 crore from blacklisted Hajj agencies as fines. However, the minister submitted a report to the parliamentary standing committee showing Tk. 50,000 to Tk. 5 lakh realized as fines, which has misguided the committee’s members as well as the people of the country. The ministry should clarify it in the next meeting, he added.
On the other hand, taking advantage of the ministry’s reluctance to change the provisions, HAAB leaders are taking certain amounts of money from the Hajj agencies to put their counter-signatures on the bank statements that would be submitted to the Hajj office in Ashkona for collecting the Pilgrims’ IDs (PIDs) of pilgrims registered to perform Hajj this year.
According to the allegation by the Hajj agency owners, though there is no provision to take any amount of money for counter-signing the statement, the HAAB leaders are taking Tk. 200 per pilgrim. Again, a sum of Tk. 3,000 has been taken for every Hajj guide from the Hajj agencies.
Leaders of the HAAB’s present executive committee are pocketing the full amount collected from the Hajj agencies. Unless they pay the amount to the HAAB account, none of the Hajj agency owners are getting the counter-signatures of the HAAB on their bank statements, they alleged.
According to the resolution paper of the parliamentary watchdog’s 18th meeting, the committee opined that the HAAB—an apex body of the Hajj agencies—was a controversial organisation. Its leaders were the main obstacle towards ensuring transparency and honesty in the sector.
Though the government had prepared the provision to have HAAB officials counter-sign the Hajj agencies’ bank statements to ensure transparency in Hajj management, the purpose could not be fulfilled as its leaders are controversial, the meeting observed. Hence, the government should amend the provision of counter-signature by the HAAB leaders, the meeting added.
The meeting, held on April 13, also discussed the irregularities on the part of HAAB in connection with the purchases of pilgrims’ trolley bags, human trafficking in the name of Hajj and Umrah, Hajj management, punishment of 104 Umrah agencies in accordance with the recommendation of Saudi Arabia and irregularities in distributing pilgrims’ quotas.
According to Hajj agencies, the HAAB leaders have fixed a target to collect Tk. 1.77 crore by giving counter-signatures on 88,200 private management pilgrims’ bank statements and Tk. 1 crore by giving counter-signatures on 3,352 Hajj guides’ lists.
Religious affairs secretary Abdul Jalil told The Independent that the ministry is currently examining the decision of the parliamentary body. The ministry would take a decision after consulting the stakeholders, he added.