Bangladesh’s parliamentary body alerts ministries to November 24 deadline to provide MPRs to all expats
JS body to ministries
The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs yesterday asked ministries concerned to make sure all Bangladeshi expatriates get machine readable passports (MRPs) within the November 24 deadline.
The committee, however, did not discuss Malaysian company IRIS's failure and inefficiency in executing its MRP-related contracts in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which would put about 30 lakh expatriates in trouble.
It alerted the home ministry about repeat of the mistakes, mismanagements, and irregularities that delayed MRP issuance to expatriates, a committee member said after the meeting.
“We told the meeting that the officials of the home ministry remain vigil and alert so that the MRP issuance process is done within the deadline,” Shamsul Hoque Tuku, ruling party lawmaker and member of the committee, told The Daily Star.
At the start of the meeting held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, Senior Secretary of the Home Ministry Md Mozammel Haq Khan informed the meeting about the status of the MRP issuance to expatriates.
He said MRPs were being issued from 58 missions of Bangladesh in full swing while the work started recently in seven missions.
His briefing left out the MRP crisis in Malaysia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia where nearly 45 lakh expatriates live.
Of them, about 35 lakh were carrying old passports which would be phased out by the November 24 deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Tipu Munshi, chairman of the parliamentary watchdog, told the meeting that the expatriates who would not get MRPs within the deadline might have no alternative but to return home.
“They may face difficulties while staying in their respective countries or while travelling to other countries,” a member said, quoting Tipu Munshi.
The meeting asked the home and the foreign ministries to launch campaigns in different countries to make the expatriates aware of the importance of MRPs.