Thousands of migrant workers to fail MRP deadline on Nov 24 [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Thousands of migrant workers to fail MRP deadline on Nov 24

Local November 15, 2015

Thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers living abroad are likely to miss the deadline for converting to Machine Readable Passports on November 24, as they are still not enrolled for MRPs at Bangladesh missions abroad, said officials at Dhaka and the missions abroad.
Despite taking up special programmes to bring all expatriates under MRP coverage, Bangladesh missions abroad did not get ‘rapid response’ from the expatriates, they told New Age.
International Civil Aviation Organisation set the global deadline of November 24 after when only MRPs would be acceptable for travel.
According to Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training officials, over 9.2 millions of Bangladeshi workers have so far gone to work in 160 countries since 1976.
Most of Bangladeshi expatriates are employed in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Malaysia, said BMET official.
When asked, Bangladesh Ambassador in Saudi Arabia Golam Moshi told New Age that around 10 lakh out 13 lakh Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia have so far enrolled for the MRPs.
Of them, Bangladesh missions in Riyadh and Jeddah issued 6.5 lakh MRPs and outsourcing company IRIS enrolled some 1.5 lakh workers, he said, another one lakh MRPs issued from Dhaka await distribution.
Despite the embassies having full capacity, Bangladeshis are not responding to the embassies.
‘Only 200 to 250 workers are reporting daily for MRPs at the two missions that have capacity of enrolling 1,400 people a day,’ he said.
Bangladesh missions in Riyadh and Jeddah have recently taken move to distribute 32,000 MRPs, which were held back for long by an unscrupulous nexus comprising of a section of officials of the missions and brokers, to the recipients, a diplomat in Riyadh told New Age.
Bangladesh ambassador in UAE Muhammad Imran told New Age that around seven lakh MRPs have already been distributed among Bangladeshis from Abu Dhabi and Dubai missions.
About 40,000 workers might be left out in the Emirates after the deadline, he estimated.
‘Around 400-500 workers visited the two missions in UAE daily but now we are getting 150-200 workers,’ he said, claiming that most of Bangladeshis have already got MRPs.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to Kuala Lumpur Shahidul Islam told New Age that despite officials of the missions continuing their campaigns, Bangladeshi nationals in Malaysia were responding poorly to call to make MRPs.
‘On an average, 250 to 300 Bangladeshis are daily enrolling at the High Commission in Kuala Lumpur for MRPs,’ he said.
He, however, could not say how many Bangladeshis were working in Malaysia.
Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has so far delivered 2.77 lakh of MRPs among the Bangladeshis there,’ he said.
BMET officials told New Age that about six lakh Bangladeshis were staying in Malaysia. Of them, more than 1.5 lakh workers would be out of passports after the deadline.
Shahidul Islam, however, said the workers should not panic or worry as MRP issuance would continue for all remaining Bangladeshis. ‘It will take time only,’ he said.