Thirteen Bangladeshis, sent to Romania on work visas by a government-approved recruiting agency, returned on Thursday as they were denied entry by the European country due to travelling with fake documents.
Upon their arrival at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the workers, who had intended to work in a shipyard, lodged a complaint with the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training against their recruiting agency, seeking compensation and justice.
According to the complaint, the workers were recruited by Asia Continental Group (BD), bearing the recruiting licence number 523, and were sent to Romania with fake documents to work at a Romanian company, Santierul Naval Constanta Sa, a shipyard.
Victims said that the recruiting agent informed them that a representative of the Romanian company would receive them at the airport on their arrival. But nobody received them there for several hours after their arrival, and at one point they sought help from local police.
‘When the police called the company about our arrival, the company denied hiring any workers from Bangladesh,’ said one of the 13 returnees on condition of anonymity.
While frustrated workers were crying at the Bucharest airport, the duty police cordoned them off, beat them up, seized their passports and cancelled visas, suspecting them as criminals, a couple of workers said.
Recruiting agent and Asia Continental Group proprietor Lokman Shah claimed that the Romanian shipyard company had in fact hired the workers.
He blamed the 13 workers for the situation, saying that the workers drew suspicion from the Romanian immigration police after one of them talked about fleeing to Italy from Romania.
Workers rejected the recruiting agency’s explanation of the incident and said that they never said anything about fleeing to Italy.
The victims said that they spent between Tk 6.30 lakh and Tk 7.44 lakh each for a job in the shipyard company, for which they received training on trades such as welders or fitters for months before leaving Bangladesh.
‘We had been promised overtime payment in addition to our monthly salary of Tk 70,000,’ said a returnee migrant.
Lokman Shah claimed he took Tk 4.90 lakh from each worker and promised to send them to another country now if they wished.
BMET director Mohammad Mizanur Rahman Bhuyan said that they had received the complaint from the migrants on Thursday.
‘We will collect information and take necessary action,’ he said.
Labour migration from Bangladesh to Romania has been increasing in recent years due to favourable conditions and high demand.
BMET statistics show that in the past two and a half years, over 18,000 Bangladeshis have gone to Romania.
In 2022, a total of 5,174 people migrated to the country.
However, many foreign workers, including Bangladeshis, Indians, and Pakistanis, allegedly flee the country to Western European countries, mainly Italy, leaving the market vulnerable.
Romania reported the issue to Bangladeshi authorities, prompting the BMET to charge a security deposit of Tk one lakh for travel to Romania.
The worker will be repaid the money upon his return, upon successful contract completion.
Published on New Age
Rashad Ahamad 