THE Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has deported over 18 thousand Bangladeshi workers since January, and more will follow, according to the returnees. The deportations would leave a negative impact on migrations from Bangladesh and, consequently, reduce the inflow of remittances. This is worrying as our Balance of Payments rests essentially on remittances. The RMG sector alone is unable to keep our balances positive. Unfortunately local recruiting agents or manpower brokers are involved with ‘the free visa business’–which basically means that people have to pay minimum Taka 5 lakhs to go to Saudi Arabia without any specific job. So sending workers with free visas should be stopped. Recruiting agencies must take responsibility and the migration cost must be reduced. The government must take stern action against the agents involved in irregularities in recruiting Bangladeshi workers for Saudi Arabia.
Side by side, the Bangladesh government should seek explanation from the KSA why it was deporting the workers having valid work permits. The governments of Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia should investigate into the issues. Reform in the recruitment system is essential as it is creating problems for the workers. Recruitment of workers for Saudi Arabia fell sharply due to new instructions for submitting clearance from the police with the passports of the workers. In September, Saudi Press Agency reported that since November 2017, Saudi police arrested about 38 lakh foreigners for violating residential, labour and border security regulations. Recruitment of housemaids from Bangladesh has dropped by about 30 per cent because of the greediness of brokers who raised the cost of a single contract to about $3,000.
Many Saudi families prefer Bangladeshi housemaids because they could be paid low wages. But it’s a matter of great regret that these housemaids are prime victims of sexual harassment, physical torture and also derived of salaries. In the recent years, the female returnees – most of them were boring marks of torture – have been complaining about the issue. The media was also covering their sufferings. But the government didn’t pay any heed to it. Now our male workers are started returning home with empty hands despite having all legal documents. We think it needs an effective diplomatic measure on an urgent basis to overcome the situation.
