Dhaka, Aug 10 (V7N) – The government has decided to bring 86,709 religious institutions across the country under the state honorarium allowance programme in the current fiscal year 2026-2027, benefiting a total of 256,074 religious leaders and service workers, according to a ministry press release today.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will formally inaugurate the programme this month, the release added.
The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the cell formed to introduce monthly honorariums and training-based welfare measures for mosque imams, muezzins and khadems, as well as workers at other religious places of worship, as part of implementing the government's election manifesto.
The meeting was informed that the institutions to be brought under the programme include 82,656 mosques, 3,000 temples, 752 Buddhist monasteries and 301 churches.
Prime Minister's Adviser on Public Administration and Chairman of the cell Md Ismail Jabiullah chaired the meeting. State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam, Members of Parliament, and senior secretaries from relevant ministries were among those present.
The meeting outlined the selection criteria: 15 mosques from each union will be selected, along with four mosques from each ward of 'A' category municipalities, three from each ward of 'B' category municipalities, two from each ward of 'C' category municipalities, and six from each ward of city corporations.
For temples, five from each upazila will be included, with two from each 'A' category municipality and one from each other municipality, while the remaining will be selected at the union level. Buddhist monasteries and churches will be determined at a rate of 25 percent on a district-wise basis.
Currently, imams of selected mosques, priests of temples, heads of Buddhist monasteries and priests of churches receive a monthly honorarium of Tk 5,000 each. Muezzins, temple sebayits, deputy heads of monasteries and assistant priests receive Tk 3,000, while khadems of mosques receive Tk 2,000. Payments are sent directly to beneficiaries' bank accounts through the electronic fund transfer (EFT) system.
The government has allocated Tk 1,100 crore in the budget for the programme this fiscal year. Approximately one-fourth of the country's religious places of worship are being brought under the benefit this year, with a plan to gradually expand coverage to 100 percent over the next three fiscal years.
Earlier, under a pilot project in fiscal year 2025-2026, 13,949 religious leaders and service workers at 6,017 institutions received state honorariums for the first time, inaugurated by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
