Arifur Rahman Rabbi
The government’s move to send back the expatriate workers to their workplace stumbled on the first day on Saturday as half of the scheduled flights were cancelled on the day.
At least seven special flights were canceled on the day and four of them were denied landing permission at destination countries and the others faced lack of passengers.
Ten of the special flights were scheduled to take workers to their destination countries and four were supposed to bring back stranded workers at their workplaces. Half of the flights scheduled to leave Dhaka and two of the flights scheduled arrive Dhaka where cancelled.
Despite a ‘strict lockdown’ in force, several hundred migrant workers from different parts of the country came to the airport and found their flights ‘cancelled’.
The cancellation of flights pushed the jobs of many workers at risk as visas of many of them would expire in a couple of days. The workers sought urgent intervention of the government into the matter.
Angered at the situation, several hundred Saudi bound migrant workers went out on demonstration at Dhaka airport in the morning.
A Saudi-bound flight was scheduled to leave Dhaka at 6:15am but Biman was forced to cancel the flight as Saudi authorities denied it landing permission.
Tahera Khandoker, deputy general manager of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told The Business Post that 201 passengers who checked in for the flight would be taken to a hotel at Biman’s expense and they will fly to Riyadh on the next available flight.
One Dammam-bound flight and two Dubai-bound flights were cancelled for having insufficient passengers, she said.
Saiful Islam, a passenger heading for Dammam, said, “My visa will be expired tomorrow (April 18). If I can't get in on time, I won't be able to enter Saudi anymore.”
He said that he went to Biman Bangladesh Airline office and reconfirmed the ticket and had to spend around Tk 11,000 more for reconfirming the ticket and get a fresh COVID-19 test.
“If the government can't do it, then why they attempted for it. We could at least explain our company that we couldn’t come because of the lockdown. We could have a ground. Now I'm worried.”
Another Dammam-bound passenger Nazrul Islam said that his visa would expire on April 20. If he fails to enter the country within the time, he would lose the job, he said.
The agitated passengers gathered for talking to the authorities and chanted slogans on the airport’s driveway.
They complained that they had bought tickets for Tk 80,000 to Tk 1,50,000. They questioned why tickets were sold for April 17 knowing that there would be a lockdown from April 14.
Secretaries of civil aviation and tourism ministry, expatriates' welfare’s ministry, foreign ministry, chairman of Civil Aviation Authorities of Bangladesh and managing director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines went to the airport and talked to the migrant workers around 2:00pm.
They apologised for the unfortunate situation and assured the workers that efforts were being made to send them to their destination on special arrangements as the flights were canceled. Negotiations are underway with the Saudi and Dubai authorities, said foreign secretary.
The senior officials said that the passengers would be set if the plane was allowed to land in destination countries. Until then, the government would arrange hotels and security for the passengers, they said.
About visa complications for some workers, the officials said that they would also discuss about matter with the authorities concerned of the respective country.
They hoped that the problem would be solved by Sunday and flights would also be increased.
They also assured the workers that people responsible for the situation would be traced actions would be taken if anyone found guilty.
Meanwhile, the expatriates also gathered at the office of Saudi Airlines at Karwan Bazar and Biman's Motijheel office for tickets since Saturday morning. Later, they held demonstrations at both the places.
A Jedda-bound passenger Mahbub Haque of Cumilla said that he bought a ticket from Saudi Airlines and Saturday was the last date for boarding. As his flight was cancelled, he could not figure out what to do. No one is responding to the matter, he said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh suspended all international flights to and from Bangladesh for a week from April 14 due to a nationwide lockdown.
Due to the weeklong ban, around 20,000 to 25,000 expatriate workers were in uncertainty about reaching their workplaces.
