Fraud Recruiting Agencies: PM warns of stern action
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said stern actions would be taken against fraudulent recruiting agencies so that migrant workers are not deceived.
“I’d like to ask our recruiting agencies not to send workers just for making money,” she said while addressing a programme of the International Migrants Day 2019 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city.
Hasina said the rural people fall victims to deception in many cases as some agents of recruiting agencies show them the dream of a better future in foreign lands. The people go abroad leaving or selling off everything, she said.
“Proper actions will be taken against those [agents] who do this. Besides this, we’ll also request the foreign countries concerned to take proper actions against those who con the workers into sending them abroad so that such thing doesn’t occur.”
The PM asked the overseas jobseekers to verify jobs, salaries and security measures properly before going to any country as there is a registration system in Bangladesh now.
She also urged everyone in rural areas to be careful so that no one could become victim.
At the function, Hasina inaugurated the insurance coverage system for migrant workers and handed over insurance policies to an overseas jobseeker.
She also handed over cheques of stipends to two meritorious students as part of the distribution of some Tk 4.5 crore as stipends to 3,225 meritorious children of migrant workers.
Hasina also gave Commercially Important Person (CIP) awards to two non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) as the government conferred the awards upon 42 Bangladeshi expatriates on the occasion of the International Migrants Day 2019.
Later, the PM opened the migration fair at the venue.
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad presided over the programme.
Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry Anisul Islam Mahmud, MP, President of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Benjir Ahmed, MP, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Md Salim Reza, and IOM Bangladesh Chief of Mission Giorgi Gigauri also spoke at the event.
The PM urged the Bangladeshi workers and the recruiting agencies to work sincerely to uphold the image of Bangladesh abroad.
Spelling out different activities taken by her government for manpower export and welfare of the expatriate Bangladeshis, Hasina said her government was now giving greater attention to proper training of jobseekers.
She said it was earlier seen that many registered for training, but did not receive it. “But now it’s a must.”
The PM directed the ministry to give more attention so that Bangladeshi workers could go abroad after getting proper training, or else they would be repressed.
“We want trained workers to go abroad from our country. If we can export trained workers, they would be able to earn more and demonstrate their expertise abroad. And when they would return home, they could be engaged in the country’s development or they could get jobs here.”
The government will create skilled manpower in every upazila to export them abroad, Hasina said.
Mentioning that her government established Probashi Kallyan Bank for the expatriates’ welfare, the PM said her government’s goal was to ensure safety, job security, and proper arrangements for the overseas workers so that they could perform their work properly and competently.
She noted that the expatriates were making a significant contribution to the country’s economy.
“We want them to remit the money through legal channels … So, we’re providing two percent cash incentive for sending money through legal channels,” said Hasina, adding that the government kept aside some Tk 3,500 crore in the national budget for providing the cash incentive for remittance.
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