State Minister for Civil Aviation M Mahbub Ali on Monday asked the officials concerned at immigration to not to interrogate each passenger during immigration at Dhaka Airport.

“We have talked to the immigration authorities and asked them not to interrogate every passenger to avoid harassment. They can interrogate the person who is suspicious to them and they will be under interrogation in separate, if needed. Besides, it is difficult to interrogate all in one day,” he said while talking to reporters after observing the overall situation of the airport on Monday.

We came here to monitor the airport management and check the performance of the airport authorities, he said.

Also read: Nominees of pilgrims unable to attend hajj 2022 can withdraw deposited money

The ministry has formed a team to monitor the airport management and they visited the airport area three days in a week, he added.

Referring to the hajj management, the minister said all preparation has been taken to start hajj flights from May 31.

“We have taken preparation to conduct the hajj flights with our own flight Biman Bangladesh Airlines,”

There are four aircrafts of Boeing-777 out of 21 aircrafts of Biman and in 2019, hajj flight was conducted with the four flights and it will be the same in this year too, said Mahbub.

“We are working to maintain hajj flights without any disruption and the authorities concerned are monitoring the hajj flight activities regularly,” he said.

Noting that there is a trolley crisis at the airports, Mahbub said a number of close circuit cameras were installed to check harassment of passengers, if any.

Also read: Hajj registration to start from May 16

He also urged the officials concerned at ground handling of the airport, to join their work thirty minutes before their scheduled time and exit their workplace half hours after their working time to ensure smooth service of the passengers.

This year, a total of 57,856 pilgrims will be able to perform Hajj from Bangladesh and of them 53,585 will travel under private management.

The minimum cost under government management has been fixed at Tk 4,62, 150 this year which is over Tk 1 lakh more than 2020.

Flights carrying Bangladeshi pilgrims to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj will begin on May 31, said the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry on April 27.