Cheated, repatriated workers from Sudan seek compensation
Thirty seven workers who returned home from Sudan after being “cheated” by two Bangladeshi recruiting agencies today demanded compensation.
They formed a human chain in front of the expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry in Dhaka where they also demanded cancellation of licenses of the two companies.
The workers alleged that the recruiting agencies – Al-Purbasha Enterprise and Golam Rabbi International – took Tk 2.5 lakh from each of them with a promise of employment at a textile factory in Sudan at a monthly salary of Tk 32,000.
“Each of us got only Tk 7,000 to 8,000 per month,” Ershad, one of the returnees, told our correspondent.
A total of 58 Bangladeshis who had gone to work in the textile factory were forced to work under a factory owned by a Turkish national and supervised by the Sudanese with low salary, he alleged.
Deprived of the promised payment, the workers requested to be sent back home. In June, they stopped working temporarily in protest against the “injustice”.
The management of the factory and the Bangladeshi agencies threatened the workers with police action if they did not withdraw their strike, the returnees alleged.
Compelled, the workers resumed work and sought the intervention of the owner for a respite to their problem, but even then they were let down.
After Eid-ul-Fitr last August, the workers stopped working again forcing the authorities to send them back home in response to their demand for repatriation.
The returnees blamed the agencies for cheat and submitted a written complaint against the firms to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training on September 10 demanding proper compensation.
Expatriates’ Welfare Secretary Khondaker Showkat Hossain told The Daily Star that the ministry would take necessary action against those responsible after an investigation.
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