About 5000 Bangladeshi workers jobless in Bahrain

Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development Chairman M Israfil Alam on Wednesday said thousands of Bangladeshi workers have been faffing around on the streets in Bahrain without jobs as they were sent there without any demand.

Huge number of Bangladeshi workers are passing days without jobs as nearly 10,000 workers were recently sent to Bahrain against the requirement of 5,000, Alam said while speaking at national consultation on Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) at CIRDAP auditorium in the capital.

WARBE development foundation organised the nation consultation on GFMD 2017.

Referring to his recent visit in Bahrain, Israfil alleged that he found Bangladeshi officials in Manama were involved with attestation of false visas to recruit workers from Bangladesh without confirmation of jobs.

WARBE development foundation secretary general Faruque Ahmed said the grassroots problems of the migrant workers would be presented in the national and international forum to end solution.

WARBE director Jasiya Khatoon presented the keynote paper at the programme.

Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Acting Secretary Jabed Ahmed said the government was working to ensure 'safe, orderly and responsible migration' to achieve the sustainable development goals.

Nearly 78 per cent of the country's total migrants were employed in Middle East countries from where little number of representatives takes part in the global forum, said Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) joint secretary general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman.

Noman urged the government to slash the travel cost for migrants and reduce passport fees to help reducing the migration cost.

Presided over by WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque, the programme was attended, among others, by Bangladeshi Ovhibashi Mohila Sramik Association general secretary Sheikh Rumana, Foreign Ministry's assistant secretary Kaniz Fatima, BOMSA director Sumaiya Islam, INAFI Bangladesh executive director Atiqun Nabi and BASA director AKM Saiful Islam.

Source: unb