Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait, who were agitating for due wages, started to return to their work as the situation calmed down following negotiations between Kuwaiti authorities and the Bangladesh embassy, reports UNB.
A Foreign Ministry release in Dhaka Sunday said already some 80,000 Bangladeshi workers have returned to their work in 23 companies in Kuwait.
It said the Kuwaiti authorities have directed companies to provide minimum wages to the workers and warned of taking stern action if any company fails to meet the order.
Besides, the Kuwaiti authorities ordered law-enforcers not to arrest or harass the workers unless they further involve themselves in any act of indiscipline or violence.
On Saturday, Bangladesh Charge d' Affaires had a meeting with Kuwait Foreign Ministry's acting Under Secretary Mohammed Ahmed Al-Mejran Al-Roomi and discussed Bangladeshi workers' problem.
The Charge d' Affaires requested for arranging payment by the Kuwaiti companies of due arrears as well as handing over of personal effects of the deported Bangladeshi workers through the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait.
Kuwait Labour Department also assured the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait to ensure payment of arrears, including wages and allowances, of the deported workers.
Mohammed Ahmed Al-Mejran Al-Roomi also reassured that effective steps would be taken after discussion with the Kuwaiti Home and Labour Ministries.
Meanwhile, acting Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmud in a letter to the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry has requested for taking immediate steps to resolve the workers' problem.
Bangladesh Foreign Ministry has been in constant touch with the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait, giving necessary directions. The government has also continued to make all possible efforts for solving the problem smoothly.
But despite such assurances, Kuwait kept on sending back Bangladeshi workers as some 50 more of them returned home from that country Sunday morning.
With this latest arrival, some 363 Bangladeshis have come back home losing their job in the oil-rich Gulf state.
Immigration official Nazir Hossain told the news agency that a special flight of Qatar Airways carrying the 50 Bangladeshi workers landed at Zia International Airport (ZIA) at 8am.
The Kuwaiti authorities sent back 78 Bangladeshi workers late on Wednesday, followed by another 123 on Thursday, 27 on Friday, and 85 on Saturday.
On July 26, South Asian workers in Kuwait, including Bangladeshis, had demonstrated as their Kuwaiti employers denied them the agreed wages.
The Bangladeshi workers alleged they were supposed to get 50 Kuwaiti Dinar a month but they were being paid much less than that.
Kuwait police had arrested around 850 Bangladeshi workers on charge of violence and damaging some vehicles. Later, 400 of them were freed after it was found that they were not involved in agitation.
Kuwait said those who were being deported were involved in violence. But on return, many of the deported workers rejected the allegation.
