Permanent digital help desk opened for expat Bangladeshis

Expatriate Bangladeshis can now directly inform the ministry about their problems through the permanent ‘digital help desk’ set up by the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board (WEWB). A temporary call centre was set up two years ago with the technical assistance of Access to Information project. But systematic complications forced the WEWB to abandon it and open its own call centre, Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment sources say. The previous call centre was introduced to deal with various issues such visa complications, help to bring the bodies of workers from abroad, and provide services to vulnerable female immigrant workers. The services could be accessed through messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Viber, and Imo. Currently, the new permanent call centre provides services through two numbers 01784333333 and 01794333333. Sources say it took longer to address any issues of the expats in the previous call centre as there were low chances of direct intervention by the ministry. Any complaint had to be reported to WEWB, which took an excessive amount of time. Expats can now directly speak with concerned officials about their problems. The call centre, opened on January 1, provides services from 9am to 5pm. The call centre is located on the ground floor of the WEWB building. There is a computer and two operators receiving calls on two phones. After listening to the complaints they transfer the calls to concerned officials. WEWB Assistant Director Zahid Anowar said they had received 295 calls in the first seven days and successfully solved 200 of the complaints. “We set up [the first call centre] on an experimental basis but due to various complications and issues, we established our own call centre,” he said. “Immigrants can directly talk to the officials about their problems. This was not possible in the previous call centre.” Zahid said all technical training centres in the country and Bangladeshi missions have been informed about the new call centre. This article was first published on banglatribune.com