KSA lifts age limit for Hajj
Decision on reducing cost for B, C category pilgrims of Bangladesh
Saudi Arabia has removed the condition of minimum age for performing Hajj.
The Religious Affairs Ministry revealed the information through a notification on Monday.
On the other hand, the Saudi government has decided to reduce the expenses of Bangladeshi pilgrims in ‘B’ and ‘C’ categories. The amount of money reduced in these two categories will be officially announced on Wednesday (today).
According to the notification on the age limit of Hajj pilgrims, according to the announcement of the Royal Saudi Government, there is no specific age limit for Hajj pilgrims in the year 1444/2023 Hijri. People below 12 years of age can also perform Hajj. The matter was informed as per the instructions of the concerned.
State minister for Religious Affairs Ministry FaridulHaque, about the increase of Hajj performance costs, said that compared to last year the Saudi currency has increased by Tk 10. Hence Tk 60000 to Tk 65000 goes up. In addition, the Saudi government has increased an additional Tk 1 lakh due to the increase in facilities. As a result, Hajj performance costs have gone up.
The State Minister gave this information at a dialogue program at the Natore District Commissioner’s conference room on Tuesday.
Earlier, on February 20, the Religious Affairs Ministry had informed about the four conditions given by Saudi Arabia for the performance of Hajj.
Those conditions were to be vaccinated against Covid-19, meningitis and seasonal influenza, who did not perform Hajj before to get privilege, and the minimum age for performing Hajj should be 12 years. The pilgrim must not have any major chronic disease.
According to the Hajj agreement with Saudi Arabia, 127198 people from Bangladesh will be able to perform Hajj this time. Out of this, 15,000 people will get a chance to perform Hajj under government management and the remaining 1,12,198 people will get a chance to perform Hajj under private management.
Officially, this year, Hajj will cost Tk 683018. And the minimum cost for private Hajj is Tk 672618.
