<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">No decision has been taken yet to reduce the price of Hajj packages, said Motiul Islam, additional secretary to the Ministry of Religious Affairs today.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>“We are yet to receive a copy of the court's order. If there is a new decision, I will tell you later,” he told reporters at the ministry.</div><div><br></div><div>The registration for Hajj under the existing packages is ending today, he said adding that the intending pilgrims have to deposit money in banks within this time.</div><div><br></div><div>It has not yet been decided whether the registration time will be extended, said Motiul.</div><div><br></div><div>As of March 15, 9,569 people have registered for Hajj under government management and 91,246 under private management.</div><div><br></div><div>There are still 25,480 empty quota for registration, he said.</div><div><br></div><div>The High Court on Wednesday asked Attorney General AM Amin Uddin to take initiative to reduce the Hajj package cost.</div><div><br></div><div>The HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Ali gave the order after hearing the Ministry of Religion's explanation regarding the high Hajj cost this year.</div><div><br></div><div>On Tuesday the court questioned how common people will perform hajj at the cost of the package set by the government.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>It questioned “Why doesn't the government allocate budgets for the hajj like other countries in the world?”&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Ali came up with this observation while hearing a writ petition over revising the hajj package offered by the government this year.</div><div><br></div><div>Earlier on February 1, the Ministry of Religious Affairs announced the hajj package for 2023 in a memorandum. According to the package, a person has to pay a hefty amount of Tk 6.83 lakh to perform hajj this year - up from Tk 5.22 lakh in 2022. Source: UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>