0.6m BD expats in Malaysia to get MRPs

The government has decided to distribute machine readable passports (MRPs) among  0.6 million Bangladeshi expatriates living in Malaysia as Bangladesh faces a deadline to do the job by March, 2015.
The Home Ministry has already prepared a proposal for signing a deal with a private IT firm to distribute the MRPs among the expatriates.
The proposal, signed by Home secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed, will be placed Monday at the first purchase committee meeting of the new government, official sources said.
According to the proposal, the private firm will get US$ 18 for distributing one MRP.
If the purchase committee approves the proposal on Monday, the selected IT firm will set up eight centres in Malaysia, according to a news agency.
The Bangladeshi expatriates will apply for MRPs to these centres and then the centres will send data to the Department of Immigration and Passports in Dhaka through online. The passport office will then send the MRPs to Bangladesh Mission in Malaysia and the selected IT firm will distribute the passports among the expatriates.