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Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Saturday inaugurated a programme to provide monthly allowances to imams, muazzins and other religious leaders, fulfilling one of the key electoral pledges of the BNP.
The programme was inaugurated at a ceremony held at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the morning, according to the BNP media cell.
The government also launched similar allowance programmes for priests and temple caretakers as well as for Buddhist monastery principals and vice-principals, UNB reports.
On January 21, the government issued a gazette on the Mosque Management Policy 2025, introducing a structured pay scale, service benefits, recruitment rules and welfare provisions for mosque employees in the country.
Under the new policy, a grade-based salary structure has been established for mosque employees, excluding khatibs, whose remuneration will be determined by contract terms.
However, financially insolvent and mosques where 5-time prayers are held have been advised to fix salaries and allowances according to their capacity.
As per the new policy, senior pesh imams will receive salaries in Grade 5, pesh imams in Grade 6 and imams in Grade 9.
The chief muezzin will be paid in Grade 10, muezzin in Grade 11, chief khadem in Grade 15 and khadem in Grade 16.