B Mirror Report:  Tarique Rahman is set to inaugurate a government programme on March 14 to provide monthly allowances to imams and muezzins of mosques across the country.

The information was disclosed by Prime Minister’s Adviser for Public Administration Md Ismail Zabiullah while speaking to journalists at the office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Sunday.

Zabiullah said introducing an honorarium and training-based welfare system for religious leaders of all places of worship was one of the election pledges of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Since the formation of the current government under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, initiatives have been taken to implement key commitments of the election manifesto.

He said the government has already taken several steps in this regard, including programmes such as Family Card and Farmer’s Card, which have been discussed as part of the government’s flagship initiatives.

As part of implementing the pledge, the government has undertaken a plan to introduce monthly honorariums for imams, muezzins and khadems of mosques as well as individuals serving in other religious institutions.

In the first phase, the programme will be launched as a pilot project before the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr. Under the scheme, one mosque from each union and municipality has been selected, totaling 4,908 mosques across the country. For other places of worship, two temples from each upazila have been selected, totaling 990 temples.

In addition, two Buddhist monasteries from each of 72 upazilas—a total of 144 monasteries—and two churches from each of 198 upazilas, totaling 396 churches, have been included in the programme.

Under the pilot scheme, the monthly allowance has been fixed at Tk 5,000 for imams, Tk 3,000 for muezzins, and Tk 2,000 for khadems, meaning each mosque will receive Tk 10,000 per month in total.

For other religious institutions, the allowance structure will be Tk 5,000 for temple priests, Tk 3,000 for sebayets, Tk 5,000 for head monks of Buddhist monasteries, Tk 3,000 for assistant monks, Tk 5,000 for church priests, and Tk 3,000 for assistant priests. Each temple, monastery and church will receive Tk 8,000 per month under the programme.

The adviser also said imams, muezzins and khadems will receive Tk 1,000 each as festival allowance during Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha every year. Similarly, priests, sebayets, monks and church officials will receive Tk 2,000 each during Durga Puja, Buddha Purnima and Christmas.

Zabiullah said around Tk 27.13 crore will be required in the current fiscal year to implement the programme. The allowances will be transferred directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts through Sonali Bank by March 15.

He added that transferring the money directly to bank accounts will ensure transparency and leave no scope for corruption in the distribution process.