Rashidul Hasan

Around 2,500 pilgrims are yet to get visas as the extended deadline for completing the visa procedure expires today, according to Hajj Camp sources.

The religious affairs ministry yesterday gave a 48-hour “final ultimatum” to 16 hajj agencies for completing all procedures to send around 3,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia by August 26.

Biman yesterday took a number of emergency measures including suspending operations on Dhaka-Doha and Dhaka-Kuwait City routes until August 26 to ferry the hajj pilgrims who could not fly due to flight cancellations.

As many as 90 hajj agencies could not send a single of the 13,415 pilgrims till yesterday despite getting their visas weeks ago, as the tour operators failed to book flight tickets and arrange their accommodation in Saudi Arabia. Eight other agencies have been able to arrange flight for one pilgrim each though they obtained visas for 1,157, according to a list prepared on Thursday by the Hajj Office, which operates under the religious affairs ministry.

The religious affairs ministry yesterday issued a “red notice” for four hajj agencies for their failure to submit visa applications of around 800 pilgrims.

Twelve hajj agencies are yet to complete visa procedures of around 2,400 pilgrims, creating uncertainty over their pilgrimage this

Spending Tk 10.15 crore of public money, the religious affairs ministry is sending 318 “pious Muslims”, including financially solvent

Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (Haab) has requested the religious affairs ministry to increase the number of replacement hajis to 10 percent from seven percent of the total pilgrims sent from each agency.

Arabian civil aviation authority to operate 12 extra hajj flights that might clear the backlog of pilgrims who had earlier missed their flights due to visa complications.

At least 163 of the 171-member “Hajj Assistant Delegation” the religious affairs ministry sent to Saudi Arabia to help a Bangladeshi medical team treat pilgrims have no background in medicine.

Biman Bangladesh and Saudi Arabian Airlines yesterday used their full capacity, for the first time in around a week, to carry pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

Around 40,000 pilgrims are facing uncertainty over performing hajj this year due to frequent cancellation of Biman flights, and

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has been forced to cancel four more hajj flights scheduled for yesterday and today due to shortage of pilgrims.

The uncertainty over 18,000 pilgrims being able to perform hajj this year has ended following a meeting between officials of Bangladesh embassy in Saudi Arabia, Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh, and the Saudi government.

Before landing at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Zhu Ruo lin saw Dhaka from a bird's eye view and also took some photographs.

Members of the parliamentary standing committee on shipping ministry yesterday criticised Shajahan Khan for his ministry's “inaction”

Illegal gas lines, all faulty and risky, pose a grave danger to one lakh people living in Korail Bosti, a slum built on 90 acres of government land in the capital's Mohakhali.

At least 20 syndicates are making a fortune by providing gas, power and water illegally to people living in the capital's biggest slum, Korail Bosti. They get an estimated Tk 1.5 crore per month from slum dwellers and a major portion of the money is spent to “manage” the local police station and a section of employees of the three utility service providers.

The much talked-about explosive detection devices for Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport are yet to arrive in Bangladesh even

Musa Ibrahim along with two Indian mountaineers has been stuck at the base camp of Mount Carstensz Pyramid in Papua New Guinea for the last five days due to bad weather.