Vaccine Registration: Migrant workers face hassles
Migrant workers seeking Covid-19 vaccine yesterday faced difficulties in the capital and elsewhere registering with the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training allegedly for failing to make their online payments.
The government on Thursday announced that the outbound workers have to register with the BMET first to have access to the Surokkha app for Covid-19 vaccine registration.
Following this, migrant workers went to different district employment and manpower offices (DEMOs) across the country.
In the capital, several hundred migrant workers gathered for registration at the Probashi Kalyan Bhaban where the Dhaka DEMO is located.
Shamim Sheikh, a Dubai-based migrant worker, yesterday said he tried to pay Tk 200 through a mobile financial service for the BMET registration fees in Munshiganj.
But his payment was not accepted despite several attempts and subsequently he failed to complete the BMET registration, he said.
Many other migrant workers in Munshiganj went to the local DEMO office, but returned empty-handed due to the similar problem, he told this newspaper over phone.
M Tipu Sultan, president of Recruiting Agency Oikya Parishad, said several migrant workers communicated with them and described the difficulties they faced to make payments to BMET through mobile financial service. They alleged that their payments were not accepted, Tipu said.
Besides, many migrant workers, especially those from rural areas, had hassles to travel from one place to another amid the lockdown, he added.
He urged the government to address the migrant workers' problems with sincerity.
Debabrata Ghosh, assistant director at Cumilla DEMO, said about 500 to 600 migrant workers yesterday returned from the local DEMO office without completing their registration.
He said they could resume the registration process today after fixing the problem.
As per the expatriates' welfare ministry's decision, migrant workers have to register with the BMET through more than 50 government entities, including DEMO offices and technical training centres.
Besides, the migrants can be registered with the BMET online through "Ami Probashi" app. Upon completion of BMET registration, they will be able to access to the government's Surokkha app designated for Covid-19 vaccine registration.
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