Dhaka: The Saudi government has approved 15 slots to facilitate the transportation of hajj pilgrims through additional flights following the cancellation of 15 flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said Religious Affairs Minister Motiur Rahman on Wednesday.

The minister revealed this at a press briefing at his ministry.

Motiur Rahman said a total of 5,200 pilgrims will go to perform hajj under government management while 96,558 under private management, reports UNB.

‘The processing of 92,568 visas has already been completed by Saudi Embassy. The rest of the visas will get approval soon and the pilgrims will be able to go to Saudi Arabia in due time,’ said Motiur Rahman.

He also said Bangladesh Biman cancelled the 15 flights for unwanted reasons and the problem has been solved. ‘We’ve increased the capacity of flights to 419 which was 300 earlier,’ said the minister.

‘We’ll take stern action against the hajj agencies which had tried to create crisis in overall hajj management,’ he added.

Referring to the allegations of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (Haab) against secretary Abdul Jalil and director (Hajj) Abu Saleh Mosfata of the Religious Affairs Ministry for crisis in hajj management, the minister said he had instructed to resolve the problem and it was done accordingly.