CHATTOGRAM District Police has opened a help desk for Bangladeshis living in various foreign countries. Superintendent of Police of Chattogram District inaugurated the service at Police Civic Center of Chattogram Police Lines in Halishahar of the Port City on Saturday. The expatriate Bangladeshis now can access the service 24 hours and seven days in a week through its hotline, e-mail, fax and social media means. The initiative taken by the police will undoubtedly benefit the expatriates in many ways.
Earlier, the Wage-earners’ Welfare Board had set up a permanent ‘digital help desk’ for the migrants. In 2016, a temporary telephone facility under the banner of Probash Bondhu Call Centre was provided to them. But the call centre under Excess to Information Project of Prime Minister’s Office could not continue due to system complications.
Currently, Bangladesh is one of the top five migrant-sending countries in the world. However, in terms to remittance earnings, Bangladesh is one of the top ten recipient countries. The Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training said that, total number of Bangladeshi labour migrants is about 1.25 crore of which Saudi Arabia alone receives 29 percent. Besides, the female workers are around 12 percent of the total migrants. In district-wise estimate, Chattogram ranks top in sending migrants.
Usually, the migrant workers face severe problem in renewing visa, getting police clearance and nationality certificate, bringing back bodies of expired workers, et cetera. We hope, the initiatives taken by Chattogram District Police will help resolve the long-standing problems. The Wage-earners’ Welfare Board though has been providing different services; it is not enough in comparison to vast demand of the expatriates as there are many limitations.
Apart from male migrants, a huge number of Bangladeshi women migrants are allegedly in vulnerable forms of employment. The difficulties faced by them are acute in both the country of origin and the destination country. It is seen that, most of the women migrants face problems during the pre-departure stage like relatively high cost of migration, corruption and trickery, low skills, informal or verbal agreement, and vague understanding of the culture of the destination countries.
The Ministry concerned must take more migrants-friendly initiatives to ensure a hassle-free working atmosphere to them.
