NEWS media reported that the government has decided to take a further Tk 235 crore from Wage Earners’ Welfare Board (WEWB) to meet the required paid-up capital for Probashi Kallyan Bank (PKB) to turn it into a scheduled bank despite most of the 57 banks are struggling for survival. Once the transfer is made, WEWB’s contribution to PKB’s total paid-up capital will stand at Tk 380 crore, although it is not clear how migrant workers will benefit from it.
PKB was established in 2011 with the aim of assisting outbound workers providing them with loans to bear migration-related costs and rehabilitating workers who return home or repatriated under duress. Once PKB gets the status of a scheduled bank, the government should reserve 49 percent of its shares for the migrant workers in order to encourage remittance inflow and investment by migrant workers. In any way, the migrants’ welfare should have upraised as their toil runs the wheel of the economy.
The PKB after its inception has not gained popularity among stakeholders due to management inefficiency, centralized nature, and lack of positive motivation among migrant workers. On the other hand, the WEWB was created to do welfare for the unsung heroes of our economy and to rehabilitate the returned migrants. Pushing the migrants’ welfare on the verge, turning PKB as a scheduled bank is not likely to bring any benefit except misuse of its resources by vested interest quarters.
As per recent government decision Tk 235 crore will be taken from WEWB while the Finance Ministry would give Tk 15 crore to launch the new bank; which many fear to become another losing entity. The conversion of PKB would be made with migrant workers’ money; which was established to render services to them but how the migrant workers would be benefitted is still not clear. Experts expressed grave concern over the government decision to transfer the money from WEWB as they believe it would greatly hamper the welfare of migrant workers. In our view, the WEWB fund should not be used for implementation the government agenda. As the government aims at conversing PKB into a bank it must mobilize its own money.
No successive governments ever paid attention to the migrant workers welfare who suffer without proper treatment during sickness or injuries at work. While the country’s GDP outlook is growing riding on the back of workers remittance, the government’s indifference to their plights is pathetic. Migrants are most neglected on health care by the host countries and many workers return home with chronic diseases including AIDS and workplace injuries. They make contribution to the fund but not benefited in time of needs.
The transfer of fund to create a new bank is yet another example of misusing migrant fund otherwise. It can’t go unabated without taking into consideration their due interest.
