Ctg mayor blasts govt

The fate of thousands of prospective pilgrims now hangs in the balance as the cabinet meeting declined to take any responsibility for them, said Mohiuddin, who has been leading a Mayor Hajj Kafela Travels and Tours since 1995.

"This is injustice and a deep-rooted conspiracy against non-ballotee pilgrims as the civil aviation and religious affairs ministries had left the airfare issue of non-ballotee pilgrims with themselves, whereas the state-run Biman will transport 4,000 ballotee pilgrims at a previously fixed low fare of US $950 per passenger," the mayor told the BDNEWS.

The cabinet meeting held with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the chair on November 2 rejected the civil aviation ministry's plea for raising Hajj flight fare.

The meeting ended inconclusively as neither the civil aviation ministry nor the religious affairs ministry would take any responsibility for non-ballotee pilgrims, saying that "they will make their own arrangement in any airlines for their pilgrimage."

The mayor said that as the issue of bargaining the hajj flight fare lies with the non-ballotee pilgrims, the domestic and foreign private airlines would charge high fare and the pilgrims will eventually suffer.

Mohiuddin blamed state ministers for civil aviation and religious affairs responsible for such dubious decision, saying that their incompetence and lack of vision led to such a decision.

"Why the fare in our country should be raised, whereas the ticket price in other Muslim countries, including Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia, remains unchanged," the mayor questioned.

He also called for an investigation into whether a vested quarter in the Biman Bangladesh Airlines is responsible for such a situation.

Mohiuddin Chowdhury urged the government to immediately settle the issue through dialogue with the authorities of various airlines.

Under the auspices of Mayor Hajj Kafela, more than 2,500 pilgrims have performed Hajj since 1995 and nearly 500 pilgrims are expected to perform Hajj this year.