Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury today proposed allocation of Tk 2,955 in the national budget for Religious Affairs Ministry while the figure was Tk 2,183 crore in the original budget in outgoing 2025-26 and Tk 2,403 crore in the revised one.

   According to the budgetary documents a large chunk of the allocation was earmarked to enhance the social status and living standards of religious leaders including mosque imams and strengthen religious welfare trusts, smooth Hajj management, expand Islamic research activities and mass education programmes.

   He said initiatives were taken to reduce the cost of performing Hajj along with making the holy ritual more affordable, accessible, and efficient in the future.

   Chowdhury said soon after assuming power the government was providing Tk 10,000 to Imams, Muezzins and Khatibs, and Tk 8,000 to clerics and priests or caretakers of other religious institutions. 

   In addition, initiatives were taken to increase the training targets for Imams and Muezzins in the coming year.

   “We believe in unity and equality, rather religious division,” he said this while placing a Tk 9.38 lakh crore national budget for the 2026-27 fiscal in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) this afternoon.

   The minister said that various programmes and initiatives were being implemented to ensure religious freedom and harmony and to promote moral values and ethics in society to fulfill the government’s electoral commitments.

   He said that monthly honorarium and festival allowances were being provided to 9,520 religious leaders serving in 6,438 religious institutions and “Our government has a plan to gradually extend this benefit to all places of worship across the country”.

   Chowdhury proposed allocation of Tk 1,081 crore in the budget for this particular purpose.
   He said under an ongoing campaign to evict illegal occupants of Waqf properties, the government recovered so far 28.20 acres of land to 11 Waqf estates.