Editorial
Saudi gesture welcomed
Workers should put shoulders to the wheel
A general amnesty declared on May 10th in Saudi Arabia will allow around 4 lakh Bangladeshi workers, who are living and working there, to become legalized foreign workers. Currently there are 12 lakh reported Bangladeshis working in Saudi Arabia and many of them lack legal status. This decision of Saudi Arabia will greatly benefit our Bangladeshi brothers and sisters who so far have lead insecure and uncertain lives away from home.
So we commend the Saudi government for this action to regularise a bulk of illegal immigrants.
Additional staff are joining Bangladesh missions in Saudi Arabia to support this process, local volunteers are also working with the embassy to help the mission in this front. The mission should deal with this positive change in prospect with competence and active concern for the workers' welfare.
The trend of Bangladeshis moving to Saudi Arabia for work started in the 1980s and this community has contributed to the gross national product of Bangladesh adding to the country's macro economy. Saudi economy too benefitted.
However sadly there are also stories of hardships which accompanied the lives of the Bangladeshi foreign workers -- from lack of proper workplace setting, pay, legal status, health insurance to many more issues.
This amnesty in Saudi Arabia is certainly a positive one for Bangladesh and we hope to see four lakh smiling faces of our brothers and sisters who will finally find proper ground under their feet. From this point on we should only look forward.
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