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The standing committee on Manpower and Skill Development of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) today said that businessmen are concerned over manpower export syndicate.
They called upon the government to provide a policy in order to stop the increase in plane ticket fares.
At the meeting, manpower exporters informed that before the Covid epidemic, the average fare of a plane ticket from Bangladesh to the Middle East was Taka 50,000 which now has been doubled to over a lakh.
Migrant workers are suffering due to high ticket prices, the manpower exporters and the syndicate are responsible for this price increase, they mentioned.
On December 19, a memorandum of understanding was signed at the ministerial level of the two countries to send workers from Bangladesh to Malaysia. Standard Operating Procedures-SOPs are to be formulated soon in this regard.
The chairman of the FBCCI’s standing committee Dr Mohammed Faruque said that in the past, the entire process of sending manpower to Malaysia was in the hands of only 10 companies.
“Their corruption and irregularities forced the Malaysian government to stop taking workers from Bangladesh at one stage. Now the same clique is maneuvering to send migrant workers to the country through 25 companies,” he added.
At the meeting, other members of the standing committee also expressed their concerns about the syndicate in the manpower sector. Citing the examples of Nepal, India, Pakistan; they said, each country is exporting manpower to Malaysia through more than one and a half thousand recruiting agents. Therefore, there is no reason to limit the number of agents in Bangladesh.
The manpower exporters demanded the inclusion of a nominated member of the FBCCI in the meeting of the Malaysia-Bangladesh Joint Working Committee to break up the syndicate in this sector. They also discussed amendments to the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act, raising the incentive rate on remittances from 2 percent to 3 percent.
The FBCCI’s Standing Committee on Manpower and Skill Development has decided to inform the concerned ministries and the Prime Minister’s Office, about the existing problems in the manpower export sector through the FBCCI.
FBCCI Vice-President and Director-in-Charge of Manpower Standing Committee Md Habib Ullah Dawn recommended bringing the manpower sector under government incentives to deal with the epidemic. He said the manpower sector is contributing 12 percent to the country’s GDP.
Therefore, he called for more attention from the government in this regard. At the same time, he urged the government to take steps to officially honor the manpower exporters who have contributed to the economy.
Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee Reaz-ul-Islam, Heroic Freedom Fighter Mostafa Mahmud, Heroic Freedom Fighter Ghulam Mustafa (Babul), Heroic Freedom Fighter Mohammed Seraj Miah, Mofiz Uddin, Md. Redwan Khan (Borhan) and Kazi M. A. Qashem along with other members of the Committee were present.
FBCCI Director Amzad Hussain and Secretary-General Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque were also present at the meeting.
(BSS)
