Sylhet, Oct 26 (V7N) – A total of Tk 3 crore 18 lakh 23 thousand 144 in cash has been collected from donation boxes and cooking vessels at the Dargah of Hazrat Shah Jalal (RA) in Sylhet over five rounds of counting in 2026, excluding the value of gold, silver and foreign currencies.
The fifth round of counting began publicly at 9:30am on Saturday, October 24, after a 34-day interval. Officials recovered Tk 88 lakh 65 thousand 804 in cash during the latest count, along with gold, silver and currencies from 18 countries.
District administration officials, representatives of the Dargah management committee and other relevant parties were present during the counting.
Sylhet Deputy Commissioner Md Abdullah Al Mamun said a new policy for using the Dargah’s donations would not be implemented immediately. For now, the money will be deposited in a bank account after counting, and payments for electricity, other utility bills and Ansar personnel’s salaries will be made from the fund.
He said the new policy would take effect after the Dargah recruits the necessary staff, including a manager, an accountant and a computer operator. The recruitment process may take about another month. Daily counting of donations is expected to begin after the appointments, although another count under the existing system may take place before then.
This time, donations from three large cooking vessels and five donation boxes were counted. The items recovered included 1 bhori and 8.5 annas of gold, 3 bhori and 13 annas of silver, and foreign currencies from 18 countries.
The foreign currencies included 14 British pounds, 7,647 Indian rupees, 20 Thai baht, 93 Saudi riyals, 11 Malaysian ringgit, 29 US dollars, 1,350.50 Omani baisa, 65 UAE dirhams, 15 Maldivian rufiyaa, 17 Qatari riyals, 7 euros and 33 cents, 100 Bahraini fils, 10 Hong Kong dollars, 1 Brunei dollar, 55 Nepalese rupees, 100 Pakistani rupees, 50 Russian rubles and 500 Sri Lankan rupees.
The estimated market value of the gold, silver and foreign currencies was Tk 3 lakh 82 thousand 238, in addition to the cash collected during the latest count.
The first public count took place on June 22, when Tk 17 lakh 65 thousand 549 was recovered. After a cheque for Tk 5 lakh from the district administration’s fund was added, the total for that round stood at Tk 22 lakh 65 thousand 549.
The second count, on July 11, yielded Tk 47 lakh 10 thousand 153, while the third count on August 15 produced Tk 70 lakh 88 thousand 672.
During the fourth count on September 19, donations from the boxes and vessels amounted to Tk 88 lakh 92 thousand 966, alongside foreign currencies, gold and silver.
The first four rounds had produced a combined Tk 2 crore 29 lakh 57 thousand 340 in cash. With the latest collection added, the total for all five rounds reached Tk 3 crore 18 lakh 23 thousand 144, excluding the value of gold, silver and foreign currencies.
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