Ministry asks HAAB to recall tender
The Religious Affairs Ministry has asked the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) to recall its tender for buying the trolley bags for the pilgrims in a competitive and fair way.
It also asked the HAAB to specify the specimens of the trolley bags with its colour and design during invitation of the tender notice to get proper and competitive prices from the local and international bidders.
Meanwhile, the Ministry also asked the Hajj agencies and pilgrims who have already completed the pre-registration process to perform Hajj this year to deposit their Hajj fees to the bank that are assigned for receiving the fees by May 30.
Only the pilgrims that would deposit the Hajj fees – Tk 1,26,690 – within the stipulated period beginning from May 10 will get pilgrims ID (PID) from the Hajj office of the government. The PID holders will only be allowed to go to Saudi Arabia this year, the Ministry officials said.
Two separate orders were issued from the Ministry recently in this connection. The pilgrims ID will be only given after being assured of depositing the amount to the bank account. The Ministry has already assigned 23 private and public banks for receiving Hajj fees.
According to an order, signed by Ministry’s Assistant Secretary (Hajj-2) Shahidullah Talukder, HAAB that is entitled for buying the pilgrims trolley bags as per the existing Hajj policy has published the tender notice in two sparsely circulated vernacular daily newspapers to ensure awarding the work to their chosen company.
It said though the HAAB is assigned for the procurement, it is also the responsibility of the Ministry to ensure the quality of the bags, its competitive price and supply the bags in time.
“The terms and references mentioned in the tender notice would hamper procurement of quality bags,” it opined and said HAAB can bring some changes in colours and quality of clothes that would be given for preparing the bags. Suppliers should also be allowed for the bidding. Separate places should be chosen for dropping tender documents to avert any untoward incident.
Ministry officials said they have decided interfering the trolley procurement process learning about a syndicate’s move to grab the huge work of preparing and supplying around 1,02,000 trolley bags for the pilgrims.
Earlier in last few years, the trolley bag manufacturers have supplied low-quality trolley bags to the pilgrims even after getting Tk 1,700 for each bag. The price of bags has been increased this year at Tk 2,000.
Though the Ministry sent the letter to HAAB on April 28, the apex body of the Hajj agencies is yet to float a new tender notice or cancelled the previous notice.
The Ministry officials said they will monitor the entire process of buying the bags including its designs, colours and quality.
The Daily Observer has published news on syndicates move to favour HAAB’s chosen company for making and supplying the trolley bags for the pilgrims.
