Online Desk: No decision has been taken yet to reduce the price of Hajj packages, said Motiul Islam, additional secretary to the Ministry of Religious Affairs today. “We are yet to receive a copy of the court’s order. If there is a new decision, I will tell you later,” he told reporters at the ministry.

The registration for Hajj under the existing packages is ending today, he said adding that the intending pilgrims have to deposit money in banks within this time. It has not yet been decided whether the registration time will be extended, said Motiul. As of March 15, 9,569 people have registered for Hajj under government management and 91,246 under private management. There are still 25,480 empty quota for registration, he said.

The High Court on Wednesday asked Attorney General AM Amin Uddin to take initiative to reduce the Hajj package cost. The HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Ali gave the order after hearing the Ministry of Religion’s explanation regarding the high Hajj cost this year. On Tuesday the court questioned how common people will perform hajj at the cost of the package set by the government. It questioned “Why doesn’t the government allocate budgets for the hajj like other countries in the world?”

The HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Ali came up with this observation while hearing a writ petition over revising the hajj package offered by the government this year. Earlier on February 1, the Ministry of Religious Affairs announced the hajj package for 2023 in a memorandum. According to the package, a person has to pay a hefty amount of Tk 6.83 lakh to perform hajj this year – up from Tk 5.22 lakh in 2022.