Migrant workers seek adequate fund in national budget

Migrant workers have urged the government to allocate adequate funds in the national budget for ensuring their welfare and sustainable reintegration.

At Obivashi (migrant) Conference-2022, organised by Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme, at Sonargoan in Narayanganj, they demanded state-sponsored facilities as they are contributing to the national economy through remittances.

Speaking as chief guest, lawmaker Nazrul Islam Babu (Narayanganj-2) said the migrant workers should be aware of safe and low-cost migration before going abroad.

They should know the government rules and they should abide by the law strictly for safe migration, he said.

“You (migrant labourers) are going abroad spending huge money through brokers, who often cheat,” the lawmaker said.

Before going abroad, he said, the migrants should properly know their migration cost and the earnings from the destinations.

Echoing migrants’ demands, OKUP Executive Director Omar Faruque Chowdhury called for eliminating migrants’ harassment at the airport and ensuring respectful behaviour to them.

He also demanded easing reintegration loans of the Probashi Kalyan Bank, proper implementation of the Migrants Act 2013, stopping human trafficking in the guise of migration, sustainable reintegration of the Covid-hit returnees and bringing the migrants under a social safety-net programme.

He urged the government to ensure improved services at all Bangladesh missions abroad and district manpower offices in Bangladesh.

Faruque Chowdhury said lawmakers should raise the issues of migrants in the parliament to solve the problems.

Speaking as special guest, Bangladesh Nari Sramik Kendra (BNSK) Executive Director Sumaiya Islam expressed her solidarity with the demands of the migrant workers.

She urged the lawmaker to raise the issues in parliament.

Many migrants have been facing different kinds of problems at home and abroad, Sumaiya Islam said, adding that the government should immediately take steps to solve the issues of migrant workers.

OKUP Chairman Shakirul Islam said migrant workers having bad experiences could not express their pains to others and that is why they often suffered mental problems.

The migrant workers should get proper support and services from the government to regain their strength and have a normal life, he said.

The organisers said that about 600 migrant workers from different parts of the country joined the conference held at the BEC training centre in Narayanganj.