Let the suffering of foreign workers be removed 

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Democracy International and Prothom Alo organized a meeting titled ‘Possibilities, Challenges and Actions to Export Manpower in Comilla Region’.

The wheels of the country’s economy are running with the money sent by expatriates. So there is no opportunity to look down on expatriates. The concerned departments of the government should be given the most importance. Immigrants should not suffer.

This was said by Comilla City Corporation Administrator Md. Yusuf Mollah (Tipu). Democracy International and Prothom Alo organized this meeting at Bureau Bangladesh Training Center located in Dhanpur (Halimangar) area of ​​Kotbari Road of Comilla Adarsh ​​Sadar Upazila. Organized with the support of FCDO and The Asia Foundation, the participants expressed their views on the possibilities, obstacles, challenges and recommendations of the migration process in this round table meeting.

Md. Yusuf Molla also said that the immigration aspirants choose various persons including agents as a means of going abroad. Most of the time people go abroad and face fraud and problems due to people acting as mediums (sub-agents). But in our country there is no law for middlemen in immigration process. There should be a law in this regard immediately.

In the meeting Comilla Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Md. Saiful Islam said that the aspirants and expatriates have been demanding one-stop service for a long time. People chose Dalal because the government could not do the work yet. Because brokers or middlemen are providing that service to people. In today’s meeting there are officials from each concerned department. Big and good decisions are coming out of this, which can bring welfare to the immigration process. 

Comilla Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) Saiful Malik said, during the performance of duty, I see that in most cases, people who go abroad through illegal channels are facing more problems or fraud. The problem is largely solved when aspirants go abroad on legal contracts. It is more important for aspirants to be trained before going abroad. Especially if you go abroad to learn computer and driving, the demand and salary of that worker is very high.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Chief of Party of Democracy International, Catherine Cecil, gave a welcome speech. He said it is very important to strengthen coordination between government agencies to make the immigration process easier, more efficient and dignified. Although there are some challenges in coordination due to different responsibilities and constraints of different organizations, they can be overcome through mutual cooperation and coordination. For this purpose, he urged to give importance to the experience, opinions and suggestions of the participants to find practical solutions.

Marina Sultana, director (programme) of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RAMRU), said the law is essential for middlemen or sub-agents in the immigration process. Because 31 percent of people who go abroad are victims of fraud because there is no law for middlemen.

Jessia Khatun, director of Wareby Development Foundation, said, ‘People are not products. So people cannot be exported. We must treat migrants humanely.’ 

Multi-Party Advocacy Forum (MAF) Comilla President Badrul Huda (ZENU) in his speech called for the involvement of their organizations in the immigration process. He said, if the multi-party advocacy forum is included in this process, the aspirants of immigration can be made more aware through publicity.

President of Comilla Press Club Kazi Enamul Haque (Farooq) urged the government to take the initiative of creating a website; Where the information of all the departments in the immigration process will be available together. He thinks that the suffering of people to get services will be reduced. 

Officer in charge of Warby Development Foundation’s Comilla Center. Zafarullah highlighted several problems of expatriate workers. He mentioned about going abroad without skills, cheating by brokers, extra expenses, not getting salary documents abroad, limitations of resettlement back home. 

Comilla Adarsh ​​Sadar Upazila Amratali Union Parishad member Kamal Hossain highlighted the challenges of the immigration process. In this case, torture, excessive workload, withholding of salary, not getting assistance in complaints are the main problems, he said.

Bayra member Farzana Alam Mazumder highlighted the problems in the sub-agent and recruitment system. He mentioned that the main problems in this case are false promises, fraud in cash transactions and keeping contract documents secret.

Iqbal Mahmood, Deputy Team Leader of The Asia Foundation, highlighted the coordination crisis of government offices in his speech. In this case, he mentioned that there is little coordination between the district administration, district employment and manpower office, technical training center, Pravasi Kalyan Bank, Union Parishad and other departments.

Assistant Director of District Employment and Manpower Office to solve these problems. Atiqur Rahman urged the Expatriate Welfare Ministry to create a unified national immigration database. 

Kamruzzaman, principal of Technical Training Center Comilla, urged the Expatriate Welfare Ministry to take a policy decision to make sub-agent registration mandatory. He also highlighted some priority based recommendations. 

Assistant Director of Expatriate Welfare Center Comilla. In his speech, Main Uddin explained the details of their activities and how the expatriates are being helped.

Pravasi Kalyan Bank Comilla Region Senior Officer Raonak Jahan said, ‘Out of 17 upazilas of Comilla, we have only 4 branches. There are three people in Tomcham Bridge Branch; But from there, services have to be provided in nine upazilas.

The round table meeting was moderated by Prothom Alo assistant editor Feroz Chowdhury. Ashrupa Haque Chowdhury, Program Manager of Democracy International, Senior Regional Manager of Comilla, Abul Bashar, President of Conscious Citizens Committee (SANAK) Comilla, Professor Nikhil Chandra Roy, Deputy Director of Youth Development Directorate, Comilla were also present and spoke at the event. Ishaq, president of Bangladesh Journalist Association Comilla Yasmin Reema, former principal of Lalmai Government College Safikur Rahman, vice president of GMCC Comilla Jasim Uddin Chazhi, expatriate woman Fatema Akhtar and others.