Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina said on Sunday steps need to be taken against those who try to go abroad illegally risking their lives apart from of the middlemen as they are tarnishing the country's image abroad, report agencies.
"Measurers should be taken against those trying to go abroad illegally alongside the middlemen as they're denting the country's image," she said.
The PM said this at a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Labour and Employment at the Secretariat during her visit to it.
She said these illegal migrants are putting their lives at risk. "I think steps need to be taken against them so that this illegal migration comes to an end."
The PM came up with the concern as hundreds of Rohingyas and some Bangladeshis have landed in overcrowded boats on the shores of various Southeast Asian countries on their sea voyage to Malaysia as human smugglers abandoned their boats because of crackdowns by authorities.
Referring to growing illegal migration through sea routes, Sheikh Hasina said these people have no idea where they are actually heading towards. "Now their bodies are found in forests," she bemoaned.
The PM said the labour and employment ministry should take an initiative for publishing the negative sides of such illegal migration. "There's no need to go illegally by giving money to the middlemen because they're ultimately get trapped," she said.
Hasina said the trend to migrate illegally was like an 'infectious disease'.
"People are getting mentally ill," she said.
She advised the youths not to pay smugglers and do something in the country with that money.
Malaysia and Indonesia have responded to the global call to shelter the migrants stranded on boats and send them back to their countries.
Bangladesh government has also taken step to bring them back through the International Organisation for Migration.
Chaired by state minister of labour and employment ministry Mujibul Haque Chunnu, the meeting was attended by senior officials of the ministry.
Terming the Awami League (AL) government as a labour-friendly one, Sheikh Hasina said her government is determined to ensure the welfare of the working class and 29 labour welfare centres in the country's industrial zones are providing services to this end.
The Prime Minister narrated steps of the AL-led governments on Labour Act and Labour Policy, and said the Bangabandhu government had framed the Labour Policy in 1972 to establish an exploitation-free society and formed Labour Directorate in 1974.
