Around 100,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers have returned home after losing their jobs amid the outbreak of novel coronavirus.
This information was revealed at an inter-ministerial meeting held in the Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam, were also present in the meeting.
“Due to the fall in the oil prices, the countries in the Middle East are suffering economic downturn and terminations of workers have become frequent there,” said Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed to the media after the meeting.
“We do not want our workers to lose their jobs and to come back home, but the corona situation forces their employers to go for retrenchment and we have nothing to do in this regard” he added.
Mr Imran pointed out that there are more in the pipeline and the government is preparing for their repatriation.
“What we told the employers is to send the workers back in staggered manner because we have to develop facilities for their quarantine. We cannot bring back huge numbers of our workers at one go as our quarantine facilities are limited,” the minister said.
The meeting also discussed preparations for the repatriation of the Bangladeshi workers from the Middle East countries.
According to officials, 10 to 15 thousand workers will be deported from the Middle East.
