RIYADH, 4 November — The Bangladesh Embassy here has stopped attestation of 2,000 visas issued to various Saudi establishments on the ground that the terms and conditions for manpower employment were not met.
Disclosing this to newsmen, Bangladesh Ambassador Sharjil Hassan declared: “We will not allow our manpower to be exploited.”
The ambassador was reacting to reports appearing in a section of the Bangladesh press about the escalating charges of manpower recruitment, role of the middlemen in this regard and alleged nexus between the embassy and middlemen.
The ambassador described the allegations as “baseless and malicious”‚ and said they were being spread by vested interests with an axe to grind.
“Although I am a newcomer, I know each and everyone in the embassy and can say with full confidence that none of my staff is colluding with any middleman.” He said his main priority is to promote “qualitative relations with the Kingdom leading to a win-win situation for both countries.” Manpower supply from his country, the ambassador observed, was going through a shift. Today, besides the recruitment of labor, Bangladesh was also being tapped for sourcing professionals. However, some unscrupulous elements were engaged in a campaign to undermine their efforts.
Mohammed Jafar, deputy chief of mission at the Bangladesh Embassy, and A.F.M. Nurus Safa Chowdhury, labor counselor, were also present at the meeting. Elaborating on the ambassador’s remarks, Chowdhury said employers wishing to recruit Bangladesh manpower are required to pay not less than SR400 as minimum monthly salary, besides free food, accommodation and air ticket to and fro. Their working hours should not exceed eight.
He said the embassy had come across various cases of violation of labor laws, including contract substitution, which is an offense. Part of the problem was that 60 percent of the employees come here on individual visas, while the embassy attests only group visas. Since the individual visa holders, mostly drivers, salesmen, etc, sign the contract (invariably in Arabic) without obtaining a copy of the original document, “the embassy is helpless, as we cannot go to court.”
However, it has taken stern action against recruitment agencies in Dhaka by either postponing the renewal of license or canceling it altogether. Middlemen are a breed apart, as they operate in a clandestine manner. “They do not issue any receipt but they cover their tracks. Hence it is difficult to take action.”
Chowdhury said the presence of middlemen has jacked up the recruitment cost, which in the case of a non-professional could be as high as SR 7,000-SR 8,000 per head. By contrast, a professional need pay only 25,000 Taka (SR1,666) to the Bangladesh Overseas Employment & Services Ltd. (BOESL) toward service charge for processing their papers. The embassy is investigating the racket, he added.
Meanwhile, the Riyadh-based Bangladesh Association, at its meeting held here recently, called upon the embassy to expedite the opening on its premises of a branch of the Al Rajhi Banking and Investment Corporation. The 28-point charter of demands cover various issues of national interest and those concerning overseas Bangladeshis.
Students honored: A felicitation ceremony was organized here to honor the meritorious students of the Bangladesh International School of Riyadh (BISR). The award ceremony, chaired Ambassador Hassan, was sponsored by a local charitable organization mainly to honor and recognize talented Bangladeshi students, their parents and teachers .BISR has for the first time scored 100% success both at the 12th grade and 10th grade examinations. Introducing the awardees, Dr. Abdul Momen, an economist and formerly a faculty at Harvard University, said: “Given the right environment, Asian students can excel in studies”.
