WHEN time is running out to give machine readable passports (MRP) to expatriate Bangladeshi workers abroad, our concerned government officials are taking expensive tours abroad to learn more from some places and inaugurate the scheme at some others wasting money and valuable time. Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) employ around 4.5 million Bangladeshi expatriates. Of them, three million Bangladeshi workers are facing uncertainty over failure to convert their manual passports into MRPs. Their old passports will lose validity as travel documents from November 24. Instead of getting job extension, the old passport holders may be deported from these countries.
But the government has not yet taken the right initiative to solve the problem. Issuance of passports was always plagued with corruption, mismanagements and irregularities. When the MRP project was introduced in 2010, it was expected that the problems would be over soon. The government solved the problem temporarily by engaging some army officials at passport offices for disciplined management. No one in the government seems interested to take the responsibility to resolve the problem hurting the expatriate workers at their worst. In the name of inaugurating MRP services, high officials including the state minister are making “foreign trips” to Europe and the USA instead of going to Saudi Arabia or the UAE to solve the problem.
The problems with the MRPs started with the selection of a Malaysian company – IRIS as the supplier of the technology. But the firm soon proved to be unprofessional and inefficient vendor that did not follow its contractual obligations. The company not only failed to live up to contractual commitment, it also disrupted the government plan to expand the MRP services to various towns of the country. Question arises as to what is the point of taking physical visit to Europe and America to inaugurate MRP projects. The officials can inaugurate these projects abroad through video-conferences. Surely they can do. But crores of taka has been spent so far in the name of MRP inauguration in 60 countries. The amount could have been saved.
The solution is simple – engage a new firm or ask the Malaysian firm to come up with a quick solution. The loss of remittances from 3 million workers will be incalculable – easily near a billion dollars per month. If they become destabilized any way, the forex reserves and the economy as a whole would suffer the worst. The other way out of the problem may be to request the countries where expatriate workers are waiting for MRP for extra time and make the expatriates feel that their case is being seriously bothered about. The government must act quickly to end the crisis.
But the government has not yet taken the right initiative to solve the problem. Issuance of passports was always plagued with corruption, mismanagements and irregularities. When the MRP project was introduced in 2010, it was expected that the problems would be over soon. The government solved the problem temporarily by engaging some army officials at passport offices for disciplined management. No one in the government seems interested to take the responsibility to resolve the problem hurting the expatriate workers at their worst. In the name of inaugurating MRP services, high officials including the state minister are making “foreign trips” to Europe and the USA instead of going to Saudi Arabia or the UAE to solve the problem.
The problems with the MRPs started with the selection of a Malaysian company – IRIS as the supplier of the technology. But the firm soon proved to be unprofessional and inefficient vendor that did not follow its contractual obligations. The company not only failed to live up to contractual commitment, it also disrupted the government plan to expand the MRP services to various towns of the country. Question arises as to what is the point of taking physical visit to Europe and America to inaugurate MRP projects. The officials can inaugurate these projects abroad through video-conferences. Surely they can do. But crores of taka has been spent so far in the name of MRP inauguration in 60 countries. The amount could have been saved.
The solution is simple – engage a new firm or ask the Malaysian firm to come up with a quick solution. The loss of remittances from 3 million workers will be incalculable – easily near a billion dollars per month. If they become destabilized any way, the forex reserves and the economy as a whole would suffer the worst. The other way out of the problem may be to request the countries where expatriate workers are waiting for MRP for extra time and make the expatriates feel that their case is being seriously bothered about. The government must act quickly to end the crisis.
