The government has drafted a law to regulate Hajj and Umrah-operating agencies in the country.
The religious ministry, which has been running Hajj activities under a policy for 47 years, drafted the law.
The drafting of the law is attributed to lack of the legal purview to act against fraudulent Hajj agency owners.
At present, a Hajj agency found to be fraudulent is only served a show-cause notice.
In the case of being proven guilty, they face the highest punishment: cancellation of licence.
However, no action could be taken against Hajj agency owners, under the existing law.
Only licence cancellation does not work to regulate the errant agencies as they have more than one licence.
When they have one licence cancelled for an errant act, they use another licence to run their business continuously.
The law is expected to work as a healer of all sufferings pilgrims have been suffering for a long time, local media sources say.
Even what Hajj agencies promise in contracts and packages do not give pilgrims and that kind of fraudulence would also come down noticeably after the passage of the law.
A joint secretary at the religious ministry, ABM Amin Ullah Nuri said they will soon send the draft law to the cabinet for approval.
Once the law ministry vets it, it will be placed before Parliament, he said, adding: “We hope that the law will be passed soon.”
Asked, Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) secretary general M Shahadat Hossain Taslim said, “We are never against the enactment of such a law.
We hope that the government will make it sure that this law will not harm the hajj agency owners.”
More than 0.1 million Bangladeshis perform Hajj in Saudi Arabia each year.
