Bangladeshi migrants continue to return from KSA empty-handed

Shahinur Miah, 35, of Nagarpur, Tangail returned from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Monday empty handed ending seven months of overseas job.

He was forced to come back prematurely as he did not get resident card and work permit, he needed to work there legally.

On return, Shahinur told New Age that he paid Tk five lakh to a local broker, who is also a distant relative as the cost of his migration and getting a job.

He had borrowed the money from relatives and an NGO.

The broker had promised him good job at a hotel in Riyadh on monthly wage of 12,00 Saudi Riyal and food  allowance of 200 Saudi Riyal.

On arrival in Riyadh he found no hotel job but a hard work at a furniture shop where he worked for three months, he said. 

After three months, he added, the Saudi employer asked him to leave his shop as he could not pay the hefty fee of 5,000 Saudi Riyal to get work permit.

The KSA increased the fee for the renewal of job permits in 2017.

He spent the next four months hiding at friend’s mess and tried to do odd jobs. Finally he was arrested and detained by Saudi police for two weeks before deportation with the air fare provided by his family.

Shahinur, father of a nine month old son, said that he had a family of five members including his parents and spouse. As he had to return empty-handed, his family has been devastated by debts.

He said that hundreds of Bangladeshi workers did not get their work permits and were passing their days in extreme hardship as undocumented migrants.

At least 84 other Bangladeshi workers, being deported, arrived at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the same flight early Monday.

Nearly 6,000 Bangladeshi migrants including 300 female workers, were deported by Saudi Arabia since January, according to BRAC migration programme’s information officer Al Amin Noyon after receiving the deported workers.

He demanded thorough inquiry by the government into the whole episode.

According to a report of the prime minister’s office, 50 per cent of over 15 lakh workers of Bangladesh in Saudi Arabia lost their jobs on expiry of their job permits and they became undocumented.

Since January 2018, Saudi Arabia deported at least 69,494 Bangladeshi workers after detaining them at camps, says the PMO report.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net