Resume int’l flights, help migrants
Saying that around 20,000 to 25,000 expatriate workers will face uncertainty about reaching their workplaces abroad, Baira and Atab yesterday demanded to keep international flight operation out of the purview of weeklong lockdown begins from this morning.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) and Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (Atab) made the demand at separate press conferences at the capital's DRU.
Both the organisations said that the weeklong ban on international flights to and from Bangladesh would cause many workers' visas to expire.
Leaders of Baira and Atab also said that respective employers would also cancel visa permits of many Bangladeshi workers if they fail to reach their workplaces abroad due to suspension of international flights.
Following the government guidance and instruction, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) on April 11 announced to suspend the operation of all international passenger flights to and from Bangladesh from April 14 to April 20 in a bid to contain Covid-19 infection.
However, medevac, humanitarian, relief, cargo, technical landing (for refueling only), and the flights cleared under special consideration will remain out of the purview of this suspension, CAAB said.
Baira and Atab leaders demanded that the manpower sector be kept out of the purview of lockdown by declaring the sector as an emergency service sector.
On behalf of Baira, its former finance secretary Fakhrul Islam read out a written statement at the press conference while Monsur Ahmed Kalam, president of Atab read out their demands.
Baira said about 20,000 to 25,000 migrant workers have already bought air tickets at high prices and are waiting to go to their workplaces abroad within the next week.
Besides, thousands of expatriate workers are waiting for tickets. As a result of the sudden suspension of flights, migrant workers became frustrated due to uncertainty over their travel abroad.
According to Baira, if all international flights are canceled for a week, migrant workers along with recruiting agencies will suffer a serious loss, and the country will be affected as well.
They said thousands of Qatar and Oman-bound workers have booked hotels for quarantine with a huge amount of money and those are non-refundable and if the workers cannot reach their respective destinations on time, they will have to suffer a huge financial loss.
The Atab president said thousands of expatriate visas had expired due to a two-month-long ban on the international flight during the lockdown last year.
"After huge sufferings, many of them have completed all the process of going abroad again and are just waiting for the flight. Due to the ban on an international flight, their fate will be put in serious uncertainty again," he also said.
Atab said about 20,000 workers had bought high-priced tickets to go to Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Oman, and Qatar during the six days of the lockdown. Of these, tickets of various airlines are not refundable.
Atab and Baira leaders said after getting visas, thousands of fresh workers were waiting to fly to their workplaces within a week.
"Since there are no restrictions in the recipient countries, international flights should be operated from Bangladesh following proper health guidelines," M Shahadat Hossain Taslim, a member of Atab, said.
According to Baira, Nepal, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and other manpower export countries are sending their workers to different countries even during the lockdown.
"If the sending of workers from Bangladesh is stopped, Bangladesh will lag behind the competition in the international labor market," said Taslim.
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