The government has decided to help send back the 75 migrant workers who were not allowed to enter the UAE earlier and were sent back to Bangladesh on Monday.
Following the development, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism sat at an emergency meeting to decide the course of action regarding the issue.
They concluded that the government would ensure all the necessary requirements of the expatriates.
Civil Aviation Senior Secretary Md Mohibul Haque confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the authorities of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) sent the migrant workers home after primary health inspection, according to Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, director of the airport.
According to a ministry document, as many as 127 expatriates, in two separate flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Air Arabia, left Dhaka for the UAE on Saturday but were not permitted to enter the country.
Of them, 75 were sent back to Dhaka by the UAE authorities via a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
At present, the other expatriates are at Abu Dhabi International Airport waiting to be sent back to Bangladesh.
“A flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carried home the 75 expatriates as the UAE government had cancelled the operational permits of their concerned companies there. The authorities there didn’t even allow them to disembark from the plane.
“Later, the expatriates returned home on the same flight on which they had gone to the UAE. After arrival, they started agitating inside the airport and demanded the government's intervention in the matter,” said Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan.
Sometime later, an aviation security team took them out of the airport and sent them home, said airport sources.
The decisions taken during the inter-ministerial meeting include:
● The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) will probe the incident and submit its report to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism within five working days
● Depending on the findings of the report, the migrant workers will be sent back to their destination via the airlines concerned or under government management
● Biman Bangladesh Airlines will provide tickets to those passengers who had bookings with them earlier on a priority basis and no extra money will be charged for this
● Number of flights, both inbound and outbound, will be increased in the compliance with requirements related to the Covid-19 situation
● Necessary steps will be taken by CAAB to ensure fair prices of plane tickets
