Lack of assistance from BD mission officials - Manpower export may face set back

Country's manpower export will face serious set back in near future as Bangladeshi people working in different foreign countries don't get necessary assistance from the officials of the Bangladesh missions when they fall in trouble.
At a discussion meeting organized by Citizens Right's Movement on Wednesday, the speakers said, "In most cases, self-seeking recruiting agencies allure the unemployed youths with the assurance that if they want to go abroad for earning more money the agencies will provide all sorts of supports. They say that the workers will be highly paid by their prospective foreign employers. Exploiting the helpless of the unemployed young men, these agencies extract huge amount of money from them and send them abroad."
But as soon as they reach their desired foreign countries, sufferings and harassment start in many ways. Even, many of them are forcibly sent back home from the airport or sent to jails for not having valid document. After being harassed and manhandled, when they try to contact with their recruiting agencies, they also fail to trace their (recruiting agencies) whereabouts. Later, they go to Bangladesh High Commission for seeking help but the officials of the mission instead of helping the ill-fated youths, start insulting and mistreating them. As a result on the one hand, the youths are being cheated and on the other, image of Bangladesh abroad, is being tarnished. And if this trend continues, foreign countries will not show interest to import manpower from Bangladesh.
Former Government Secretary and BTRC Chairman Margub Morshed said these workers are sending remittances through hard labour in foreign lands which increase the foreign exchange reserves of the country. So the government should be attentive to the workers' welfare and also take immediate punitive action against recruiting agencies who send the job-seekers abroad illegally.
Former Member of Parliament GM Kader said the expatriates are being harassed and deceived abroad in many ways. In most cases they are not well educated and skilled for the jobs and lack of knowledge about the local language throw them into great frustration. In this regard only Government can take necessary measures and protect the expatriates. But most of the successive governments have failed to do this as corruption is rampant among the officials of Bangladesh missions abroad who are interested more in making fortunes by colluding with dishonest recruiting agents, than in looking after the welfare of the expatriates, specially at the time of crisis.
According to the government sources about 45 lakh and 50 thousand Bangladeshis are working abroad on short term basis specially in the Middle East while about two lakh people are living in Europe, America and Australia on long term basis. In 2006-07 fiscal year they remitted over TK 42 thousand crore.

Source: The Bangladesh Today Dated 2008-08-14

5000 Bangladeshi workers released in Jordan

Jordan released around 5000 Bangladeshi workers who were punished for overstaying in that country, said a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.The amnesty was granted for 6040 foreign workers, of whom 80 percent are Bangladeshis, a handout said. “This has been possible following Bangladesh's lobbying for the last few months,” it said.

The government expects that Bangladeshis will be able to draw attention of the new projects in Jordan that requires many more foreign workers and Jordan will become a significant labour market for Bangladesh, the handout added.

Source:The Daily Star 2008-04-09

4 Bangladeshi workers burnt alive in Saudi Arabia

Four Bangladeshi workers were burnt alive in sleep when a fire engulfed their house in the Saudi Arabian city of Dammam, 600 km from the capital Riyadh, on Friday, a witness said.
‘The dead are Hafizur Rahman Titu, Shafiq, Sattar and Abdul Kader,’ Mahmud Hossain Palash, their neighbour, told New Age over phone Friday night.
‘All of them are above 32 and drivers by profession. Of them Hafizur and Shafiq were from Faridpur district while Sattar from Dohar in Dhaka’, he said adding, ‘The permanent address of Abdul Kader could not be ascertained as yet. I have heard that he used to live in a rented house at Jatrabari in Dhaka.’
‘The fire is believed to have originated from a gas burner at a kitchen at about 12:30 pm (Saudi standard time) and quickly engulfed the room as they were asleep’, said Mahmud Hossain who said his residence was about 50 yards from the place.
‘Police have taken away the charred bodies at about 2:30 pm’, he said.

Source: New Age of 09-08-2008