In a meeting with Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) yesterday, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said the private manpower recruiting agencies should not consider the government their rival.
Denying the private manpower recruiters’ allegations that the government did not cooperate with them, the minister said: “You are all licensed agents under the ministry, but from your allegations, it seems like you are my competitors. You will not compete with the government as per Bangladesh’s law.”
The meeting, which was organised by Baira at Ladies’ Club auditorium in the capital’s Eskaton area, was aimed at finding ways to expand the overseas employment opportunities for Bangladeshi migrant workers.
However, little was achieved in finding a common ground between the parties. The private manpower recruitment agencies places many complaints before the minister about the lack of cooperation on the government’s part in the private sector of manpower business.
Abul Basar, president of Baira, said: “We know that many of the private recruiting agencies have not renewed their licences. We demand that the government eases the conditions of licence renewal, instead of cancelling the licences.”
Many agents demanded that the government should take diplomatic initiatives to open the closed market in the UAE, Libya, Saudi Arabia, which were the main overseas employer for Bangladeshi migrant workers.
Rehana Parween, director of Adobe Communications Ltd, claimed that Baira was always held responsible for the problems that the migrants faced abroad, when the government officials working in the Bangladeshi missions overseas did not do their job of providing services to them properly.
She also said Baira was not responsible for the migrants who went abroad illegally, or on student visa, with the intent to work.
She urged the government to take action in expanding the overseas employment market, from which 13% of the national income is earned.
Seraj Miah, managing director of Leza Overseas Ltd, demanded amendment of the law regarding overseas recruitment, saying the current law did not help the private recruiters in running a profitable business.
He also asked the minister to fix the recruitment cost, a demand voiced by many other agents.
The also claimed that the recruitment cost went high because of the middlemen, and asked the government to monitor and control them so that they cannot harass people who seek employment overseas.
Riaj Uddin, owner of Riaj Overseas Ltd, asked the minister to allow the private recruiters to send migrant workers in Malaysia, aside from the government.
“Around 1.7 million people are registered with private recruiting agencies to go to Malaysia,” he claimed.
In response, The minister told the private recruiters to forget about Malaysia.
“Forget about Malaysia. Try sending the migrants to 169 other countries. I do not want to sell my people; rather I want them to work with dignity overseas,” he said.
“It is because of the greedy mentality of many recruiters that around 250,000 Bangladeshi workers are living in Malaysia illegally, while 1 million are living in Saudi Arabia illegally,” the minister said.
Refuting Seraj Miah’s request to fix the recruitment cost, the minister said it had been fixed a long time ago, but the private agents did not follow it.
Addressing Rehana Parween’s claim, he said: “If any government official fail to provide services to the expatriates properly, and if any police official creates problems for the passengers on their way abroad, tell me. I will take action.”
Presided over by Abul Bashar, the meeting was attended by Dr Khondaker Showkat Hossain, secretary at the expat ministry, Begum Shamsun Nahar, director general at the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, and Monsur Ahmed Kalam, secretary general of Baira, among others.