Lebanon to repatriate 300 illegal Bangladeshis

It is expected that the first batch of around 40 workers will reach Bangladesh by next Friday or Saturday by Air Arabia. An official of the embassy said that most of the workers have been waiting to go back to Bangladesh for quite some time, but because of the very complex and long Lebanese procedure of clearance for illegal workers, they were unable go back to Bangladesh. After months of efforts with Lebanese agencies, the mission was finally able to secure clearance for all of them, he added. Bangladesh Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul Motaleb Sarker last month met with speaker of the Lebanese Parliament and the prime minister and sought their help in solving the problem, the official said. Generally the embassy gets about 50-60 clearance per year, but this time, the embassy was able to secure over 350 clearances at a time, he said. At present, there are over 130,000 Bangladeshi workers in Lebanon and they work mainly as housemaids and cleaners.