Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said stern actions will be taken against fraud recruiting agencies so that migrant workers do not fall victims to deception.

“I’d like to ask our recruiting agencies not to send workers unnecessarily just for making money,” she said.

The Prime Minister was addressing the programme of the International Migrants Day 2019 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city.

Sheikh Hasina said the rural people fall victims to deception in many cases as some agents of recruiting agencies show them the dream of catching golden deer in foreign lands. So, they go abroad leaving or selling everything, she said.

“Proper actions will be taken against those who do this. Alongside, taking actions against the recruiting agencies that cheat the people in the country, we’ll also request the foreign country concerned to take proper actions against those who deceive the workers taking them abroad so that such thing doesn’t occur,” she said.

The Prime Minister asked the overseas jobseekers to verify job, salary and security measures properly before going to any country as there is registration system here in Bangladesh now.

She also urged everyone in rural areas to be careful so that no-one can fall victim to such fraud.

At the function, the Prime Minister inaugurated the insurance coverage system for migrant workers and handed over the insurance policy to an overseas jobseeker.

She also handed over cheques of stipends to two meritorious students as part of the distribution of some Tk 4.5 crore as stipends to 3,225 meritorious children of migrant workers.

Besides, Sheikh Hasina provided Commercially Important Person (CIP) awards to two non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) as the government conferred the CIP awards upon 42 Bangladeshi expatriates on the occasion of the International Migrants Day 2019.

Later, the Prime Minister opened the migration fair at the venue.  

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad presided over the programme.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry Anisul Islam Mahmud, MP, President of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Benjir Ahmed, MP, Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Md Salim Reza and IOM Bangladesh Chief of Mission Giorgi Gigauri akso spoke on the occasion.

The Prime Minister urged both the Bangladeshi workers and recruiting agencies to sincerely uphold the bright image of Bangladesh abroad.

Spelling out different activities taken by her government for manpower export and welfare of the expatriate Bangladeshis, she said her government is now giving greater attention to proper trainings of overseas jobseekers.

She said it was seen earlier that many were registered for trainings, but did not receive that. “But now it’s a must.”

Hasina directed the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry to pay deeper attention so that Bangladeshi workers can go abroad after imparting proper trainings, or else they would fall victims to repression.

“We want trained workers to go abroad from our country. If we can export trained workers, they would be able to earn more and demonstrate their expertise abroad. And when they would return home leaving overseas jobs, they can be used for the purposes of our country or they will be able to manage jobs here,” she said.

The government will create skilled manpower in every upazila to export them abroad, she said.

Mentioning that her government established Probashi Kallyan Bank for the expatriates’ welfares, the Prime Minister said her government’s goal is to ensure safety, job security and proper arrangements for the overseas workers so that they can perform their works properly and competently.

Noting that the expatriates have been playing a significant contribution to the economy of Bangladesh, she said the government is paying attention so that their hard-earned money is used for the wellbeing of the country.

“We want them (expatriates) to remit the money through legal channels… So, we’re providing two percent cash incentive for sending money through legal channels,” said Hasina adding that the government kept aside some Tk 3,500 crore in the national budget for providing the cash incentive for inward remittance.