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The government has again extended the registration deadline for Hajj until March 21 in a bid to fulfill the registration quota.
With this, the deadline for enrollment of aspirant Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims has been extended four times.
About 110,000 Bangladeshis registered for performing Hajj until Thursday - the third deadline against the total quota of 127,198, set for Bangladesh this year.
Despite the huge interest of people in performing Hajj, fewer people registered due to the high cost of Hajj packages this year, people related to Hajj agencies said.
Of the total quota, 15,000 can go to perform Hajj under the government arrangement.
However, the government still has kept the cost of the official Hajj package unchanged.
"There is no plan for reducing the cost of hajj package from the government," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Religious Affairs briefed a group of journalists on the day.
A Bangladeshi will have to spend Tk 683018 under the government arrangement, while Tk 672618 under private arrangement.
Because of such a higher cost, devotees and different quarters demanded for reducing the expenditures, so that people can afford it and can go to perform the holy ritual.
Meanwhile, mentioning the hajj package as costly the High Court of Bangladesh recently termed this year's package is 'inhuman'.
The court's observation came in hearing a writ petition filed by advocate Ashraf-Uz-Zaman in public interests with regard to the government fixed cost for hajj package.
This year Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, will be held on June 27 (Zilhajj 9) subject to the appearing Moon in the sky.
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