No one will be able to perform Hajj with government funding: Rizwana

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan said yesterday (October 24) that no one will be allowed to perform the Haj this year with government funding.

“Today it was decided that no one will go on pilgrimage with government funding. People involved only in managing the pilgrimage (with government finances) will go,” she said at a press conference at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.

The advisor said the government is doing everything in its power to cut the Hajj expenses and citizens will be able to know by how much the Hajj expenses will be cut when the Hajj packages are announced later this month.

She said the board of advisors at the meeting approved in principle raising the age limit for public service recruitment to 32 years, with BCS exams not being allowed to be taken more than three times.

The maximum recruitment age for all cadres in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) and all other government posts will be 32 years, with the new age limit applicable in autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies after necessary adjustments, Rizwana said.

She said law enforcement agencies would recruit staff in accordance with their respective laws.

Special Assistant to the Chief Advisor Mahfuj Alam and Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam were present at the press conference.