Irregularities, corruption: Govt suspends licenses of 204 recruiting agents in 2020

The government has suspended licenses of 204 recruiting agents in 2020 due to allegations of irregularities and corruption, a parliamentary body was informed today.

Earlier in 2019, licenses of 163 recruiting agents were suspended over similar grounds, Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry informed this to the parliamentary standing committee on the relevant ministry at a meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban today.

Jatiya Party lawmaker Anisul Islam Mahmud, chairman of the committee, presided over the meeting.

Committee members -- Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed, Prof Md Ali Ashraf, and Md Sadeq Khan, among others -- attended the meeting.

The meeting discussed with a delegation of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) about the registration of agents and sub-agents hired or assigned by the association for recruiting expatriate workers to ensure orderly, safe, regular, and responsible migration.

The meeting decided to punish unregistered persons or institutions involved in any kind of transaction with expatriate workers or harassing them.

The committee was informed that considering the Covid-19 situation, Tk 3 lakh compensation is being given to family members of each unregistered migrant worker who died abroad.

According to the Wage Earners Welfare Board's policy, only the families of registered migrant workers are entitled to get the compensation.

The meeting was also informed that there are various plans to extend the tenure of visa, increase the number of flights, and provide financial assistance to the affected migrant workers due to Covid-19.

In order to make it easier for the workers to go abroad, the parliamentary watchdog decided to hold necessary discussions with Biman Bangladesh Airlines at its next meeting.