930 workers deported from KSA in a week
A total of 930 Bangladeshi workers were deported from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in last seven days, said officials and the workers on return home.
The Wage Earners Welfare Board officials posted at the help desk in Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport said that 534 workers of the total 930 returnees received emergency assistance provided by BRAC Migration Programme at the airport.
On Thursday, a batch of 113 Bangladeshi workers was sent back home on a scheduled Saudia flight which landed at HSIA at 11:20pm, said officials of the BRAC Migration Programme.
Referring to the airport welfare desk, they said that 20,692 workers returned home from the KSA since January of this year. Many of them received the emergency assistances for food and transport cost to reach home.
Kamal Hossain of Kustia said that he migrated to Saudi Arabia 18 months ago spending Tk 7 lakh and he worked in a shop. Once when he was returning to his residence from the shop, he was detained by Saudi police.
Kamal phoned his employer (Kafil) who did not take his responsibility and he was deported, he said.
Similarly, Babul, Zahir and Rezaul were returning to their camps after working in a construction site and they were detained though they were wearing company dress and had legal work permits. They were sent back in company dresses.
Another worker, Ahsan of Kishoreganj, said that he went to Saudi Arabia to make his family solvent but after four months of migration, he was deported empty handed.
BRAC Migration Programme head Shariful Hasan said that 21,000 workers were deported in last 10 months and all of the returnee workers narrated almost same experiences.
As the workers were sent back empty handed and they failed to recover their migration cost, everybody should stand beside them, he said.
He also said that recruiting agencies should take the responsibility of the returnee migrant workers and the government and the Bangladesh mission in the KSA should look into the matter seriously.
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net
