Govt urged to hire two big aircraft for manpower export
Sunday, 2 September 2007
DU Correspondent
The Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) urged the government to hire at least two big aircraft immediately to meet the acute seat crisis of the existing airlines to meet the threat to manpower exports of the country.
"The government's plan to send some 7,50,000 labourers abroad this year will be greatly hampered if the Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BBA) does not take effective measures within the next 15 days to resolve the ongoing transport crisis", ATAB president MA Mohaimin Saleh said at a press conference in the city Saturday.
He said the country's flourishing sector of manpower export might be taken away by another country as over one thousand passengers, of whom about 70 per cent are labourers, are being stranded everyday because of insufficiency of seats in aircraft and bureaucratic complexities of BBA.
Around one thousand visas have been cancelled in the mean time, as the passengers could not go to their destinations particularly in different Middle Eastern countries in time due to severe the seat crisis of the airlines, the press conference was told.
The ATAB members also placed a set of recommendations to the government to take some essential steps to bring about a flow in manpower export and save the manpower export sector.
The recommendations include giving permission to all airlines to operate additional flights freely, elimination of bureaucratic complexities to sign air service agreement by the new airlines, reduction of handling charge in airports, modernisation of check-in system and immigration and inclusion of two ATAB members in the board of directors of Biman.
ATAB secretary general AKM Bari, vice-president Lutful Kabir and treasurer Mohammad Wahidul Alam, among others, were present on the occasion.
The Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) urged the government to hire at least two big aircraft immediately to meet the acute seat crisis of the existing airlines to meet the threat to manpower exports of the country.
"The government's plan to send some 7,50,000 labourers abroad this year will be greatly hampered if the Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BBA) does not take effective measures within the next 15 days to resolve the ongoing transport crisis", ATAB president MA Mohaimin Saleh said at a press conference in the city Saturday.
He said the country's flourishing sector of manpower export might be taken away by another country as over one thousand passengers, of whom about 70 per cent are labourers, are being stranded everyday because of insufficiency of seats in aircraft and bureaucratic complexities of BBA.
Around one thousand visas have been cancelled in the mean time, as the passengers could not go to their destinations particularly in different Middle Eastern countries in time due to severe the seat crisis of the airlines, the press conference was told.
The ATAB members also placed a set of recommendations to the government to take some essential steps to bring about a flow in manpower export and save the manpower export sector.
The recommendations include giving permission to all airlines to operate additional flights freely, elimination of bureaucratic complexities to sign air service agreement by the new airlines, reduction of handling charge in airports, modernisation of check-in system and immigration and inclusion of two ATAB members in the board of directors of Biman.
ATAB secretary general AKM Bari, vice-president Lutful Kabir and treasurer Mohammad Wahidul Alam, among others, were present on the occasion.