Only 476,952 Bangladeshi intending migrants out of 493,729 who got valid documents including visa, work permits and BMET clearance have travelled to Malaysia within May 31 this year, but the rests 17,777 migrants failed to travel to the country despite paying the entire migration costs.
Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Shofiqur Rahman Chowdhury on Thursday asked the 100 international recruiting agencies responsible for sending the migrants to Malaysia to reimburse the entire amount of money to the 17,777 deprived migrants within the next 15 days (July 18).
While talking to media at the Ministrys Eskaton office in Dhaka on Thursday, Shofiqur Rahman said the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) will supervise the entire repayment process to the deprived jobseekers.
"BAIRA will supervise the entire repayment process to the deprived jobseekers. If the agencies, responsible to send the migrants, fail to repay within the period, necessary legal actions will be taken against them," the State Minister said warning the agencies responsible for failing to send the migrant workers.
He said, "We will observe the situation and see how many deprived jobseekers get their money back within July 18. If the agencies neglect the decision of repaying their deprived workers money back, BAIRA will inform the Ministry and we will take legal action."
"Its not our motive to pressurise the agencies, rather we want that the deprived workers get back their money. Its our main work now that the people get their money back. The recruiting agencies and BAIRA should assist the Ministry in this regard," he added.
The State Minister also assured that the deprived workers who failed to travel to Malaysia after completing all formalities will be given priority once the job market reopens.
Expressing hope that the Malaysian market will soon reopen, he said that the Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting of two countries will be held at the end of this month. Bangladesh will discuss the issue in the meeting and try to solve the problem.
