Transport, Burial of Migrant Workers

Heirs get costs on bodies' arrival

10 May 2010, 18:00 PM

Porimol Palma

Ordeals facing the families of dead migrant workers while collecting money for transportation and burial expenses from the authorities are likely to end, as the government yesterday started providing the money soon after arrival of the bodies at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the city. Earlier, it took several months, even over a year in some cases, for the families to receive Tk 35,000 in expenses as the procedure was too complex. “We now have arranged a system so that the families can get the bank cheque soon after they receive the bodies at the airport,” said Dr Mohammad Kawsar, director (welfare) at the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), yesterday. To collect the cheque, a family member should produce a certificate issued by an UP chairman and attested photographs at the Expatriates' Welfare Desk of BMET, he said. Dr Kawsar yesterday handed over a cheque for Tk 35,000 and the dead body of Umar Ali to the deceased's son Moksed Ali of Natore at the airport in Dhaka. Umar Ali died in Kuwait 15 days ago. On an average, 200 bodies of migrants arrive at the airports in Dhaka and Chittagong a month. There are approximately 60 lakh Bangladeshis living in various parts of the world. They send home $10 billion plus a year, the highest foreign exchange in real term, hugely helping the balance of payment of the country. But many migrants go through various forms of harassment both at home and abroad. And the families are also not spared of the sufferings after accidental or other forms of deaths that add insult to injuries of the relatives, researchers on migration said. Traditionally, the families of the dead migrants have to apply for the money to the district manpower offices (DMOs) along with airway bill, death certificate, certificate of the heir and his or her photographs attested by the UP Chairman concerned. The DMO then sends all the documents to the BMET in Dhaka, which again writes to the Bangladesh mission abroad where the migrant died to verify if the worker was legal. If the mission confirms the dead worker's legal status abroad, and DMO confirms that the applicant is a member of the worker's family, BMET issues a clearance letter to the DMO and the family for collection of the money. “In our surveys, we found this process too lengthy. The missions take quite long time to confirm if the workers were legal abroad,” said Al Amin Nayan, who conducted a research on deaths of migrant workers commissioned by an NGO, ActionAid. He said he did not find any families who could collect money in less than four months. “For some, it took even over two years.” Nayan said the migrants' families also face huge troubles to repeatedly go to the DMOs or BMET and spend good sum of money only on transports, which sometimes become equal to the amount provided as the cost. Dr Kawsar said the new digitised system is expected to reduce migrant families' woes. Using Internet, the embassy officials concerned can immediately inform the BMET officials in Bangladesh of the time of arrival of bodies in Bangladesh. Accordingly, the families of the migrants are informed without delay. Nayan said the government initiative to provide the cheque at the airport is praiseworthy. “As migrants' families know the information of the deaths of their relatives, they can surely collect heir certificates from the UP chairmen before the arrival of the body. This will cut their sufferings,” he said.