Govt to Help Migrants Stuck at Home

The Government has decided to provide food assistance to migrant workers who returned home from various countries during the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the safety net scheme of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, ten kilograms rice, five kilograms wheat, one-kilogram lentils, one-kilogram salt, and one litre soybean oil will be given to each of the returnees.

Enamur Rahman, state minister for disaster management and relief, said this package would be for 15 days.

"We will continue to provide them with the assistance until they find an income-generating job for themselves," he added.

The returnee migrant workers will also be eligible to take benefit of a loan of any amount between Tk 1 lakh and Tk 5 lakh at a rate of interest of four percent at that period.

On Wednesday, a letter was sent to the district and Upazila administrations on this issue. They were required to figure out and offer assistance to the vulnerable migrant workers.

Expatriates' Minister of Welfare and Overseas Employment Imran Ahmad said that some 21,000 Bangladeshis have returned home since April and that more will return in the coming months. Most of them have missed their work owing to the pandemic.

"Therefore, we raised the issue at a recent inter-ministerial meeting and said that the returnee migrants and their families should get at least food assistance at this bad time," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

The Ministry of Disaster Management responded to the plan. On that basis, the expatriate welfare ministry directed the District Employment and Manpower Offices (DEMO) to draw up a list of those requesting assistance, he added.

In the districts having no DEMO, the migrants or their families will have to register at the Technical Training Centres run by the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET).

It is projected that many Lakh Bangladeshi migrants will return home in the coming months, mostly from the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries.

Shakirul Islam, Executive Director of the Ovibashi Karmi Unnapayn Program (OKUP), said they supported the government 's move to include migrant workers and their families in the social security network.

"Over the years, we found many migrants and their families living in poor conditions, but they were never included in the social safety net programme," he said.