Bangladesh to send workers to Singapore under govt management, says minister

Bangladeshi jobseekers will be sent to Singapore under government management, said Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister, today.

“From now on our workers will be migrated to Singapore under government management,” he said.

Recruitment agencies are charging Tk 7-8 lakh from each jobseeker for sending them to Singapore, the minister said.

“It is extreme level of exploitation,” the minister said, adding: “The decision was made so that the migration costs do not exit Tk 1 lakh.”

The minister made the comments while talking to reporters at his ministry office in Dhaka this afternoon following a four-day visit to Singapore from March 29.

Bangladeshi workers are being migrated to Singapore after training from any of the existing eight centres in the country. From now on, the training centers will also be operated by the government, the minister said.

He said around one lakh Bangladeshi people are working in Singapore, while around 40,000 Bangladeshi female workers are now working in Jordan.

Earlier, the minister held a meeting with a visiting delegation of Jordan.

About the outcome of the meeting, the minister said, “We discussed several bilateral issues including overall interest and rights of our women workers now working in Jordan.”