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Download PDF Around 450 Bangladeshi workers have been stranded in the Saudi capital Riyadh with no food and water as their employer said they arrived in the country well ahead of schedule, the Arab News reported Thursday.
Meantime, Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday said the Kuwaiti government assured him of every effort to resolve the problems faced by Bangladeshi workers there, reports UNB.
Citing a Bangladesh Embassy official in Riyadh, the Arab News said the local Bangladeshi mission has been arranging food and other provisions on a daily basis for the stranded workers for the last four days.
The employer, Arsee Contracting Company, who hired the Bangladeshis on job visas however claimed that the problem was over and that 300 of the workers were dispatched to different locations with jobs.
“The remaining 150 workers will also be employed on Saturday,” said the company’s spokesman using a single name, Ejaz.
He said the recruitment company in Bangladesh sent the workers all at a time, ignoring his firm’s request to send them on staggered schedules.
Another embassy official said the employer and the recruitment agent are swapping blames when it is all about the survival of the workers.
“We will later scrutinise the contractual obligations, the salary structure, and who is to be blamed for the plight of the workers and how to resolve the issue,” he said.
Meantime, fresh from a two-day visit to Kuwait, the foreign affairs adviser told reporters that the Kuwaiti authorities assured him that a minimum wage of KD 40 is being fixed for the expatriate workers there and that their living conditions would be improved.
“The question of compensating the deported labourers would be speedily addressed,” he said adding that Kuwait will also take stern action against home companies who exploited the Bangladeshis.
The adviser who also heads the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry termed his visit to Kuwait well-timed as Kuwaiti parliament will meet in an emergency session on September 10 to discuss the crisis with regard to foreign workers.
He said the Kuwaiti government has announced an amnesty till October 15 for illegal workers to leave Kuwait without any legal hassles.
“We’ve also engaged a Kuwaiti lawyer to look after our workers’ interests,” he said.
He said he talked with Kuwaiti authorities about supporting a few new projects in Bangladesh including the Padma Bridge, Chittagong Port and the Special Economic Zone in Sylhet.
September 20th, 2008 at 3:55 am
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September 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
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