Minister lambasts BAIRA

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain has urged private recruiting agents to get out ‘a tout’s mindset’ while dealing in manpower export. Speaking at an interaction with the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) in the city, he came down heavily on its members for charging their clients exorbitantly and for irregularities in manpower export. The minister said, ‘You’re taking Tk 600,000-700,000 for sending each person abroad. How much are you pocketing? You are giving all the money to foreign touts.’ Referring to BAIRA’s usual rates of Tk 70,000 and Tk 75,000 for sending each worker to the Middle East and Malaysia respectively, he asked: ‘How many of you are sending workers abroad by charging this kind of money?’ The minister also reacted strongly to several BAIRA members’ criticism of the new immigration law. He said, ‘Looks like a rogue has made the law from the way you speak. One said that the government has thrown you into water with the hands and legs tied... But none of you could say where the problem is in the law,’ according to bdnews24.com.