Workers failing to go to KL: People responsible will face the music

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said her government will investigate why workers could not go to Malaysia before a deadline expired and will take action against those responsible.

The premier was responding to a supplementary question from Opposition Chief Whip Mujibul Haque Chunnu in parliament yesterday.

Earlier, the House went into budget session around 5:00pm, with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

In the supplementary question, Chunnu enquired whether any action would be taken for the failure to send workers to Malaysia by the June 30 deadline.

In reply, the leader of the House said the government operated special flights to send workers to Malaysia.

“Workers were sent [to Malaysia] on special and regular flights. But many were left out. An investigation will be conducted to identify the reason [for not being able to send all workers to Malaysia].

“Whenever we discuss and decide how many people will go abroad, we see a group of people in our country, who deals with manpower export, try to send workers abroad in a hurry,” she said.

Highlighting various steps taken by her government to send workers abroad, Hasina said that those who want to go abroad with the help of brokers get into trouble.

Despite getting clearance from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), a total of 16,970 migrant workers could not reach Malaysia before May 31, when the deadline for workers to enter the Southeast Asian country ended.

Responding to another query from ruling Awami League MP Alauddin Ahmed Chowdhury, the premier yesterday said if a project is not completed on time, the project cost increases, which ultimately puts an adverse impact on the socio-economic development of the country.

“As a result, almost all projects are modified once or more after approval without increasing the duration or cost. This hinders the implementation of the Annual Development Plan,” she said.

Hasina said many projects are not completed on schedule due to various errors and deviations, she said.

“As a result, the progress of the project is hamperedand the beneficiaries are deprived of receiving the benefits on time.”

Replying to a query from AL MP Mahfizur Rahman, Hasina said experts have stated that traffic snarl-ups in Dhaka city and their resulting impactsare leading to annual financial losses of about $3.8 billion.

“This money will be saved if the metro rail lines are opened under the Time-bound Action Plan 2030, and an opportunity will arise to invest the full amount in the economy,” she added.

The premier said a study has found that once the entire section of MRT Line-6 (Uttara to Kamalapur) of Dhaka metro rail is made operational, about Tk 8.38 crore will be saved in terms of daily travel time cost and around Tk 1.18 crore in terms of vehicle operations cost.

Responding to another question from AL MP Faridun Nahar Laily, the leader of the House said it is unfortunate that a clique of communal forces and war criminals and the BNP-Jamaat were continuously spreading rumours through social media.

“Many of them are staying in different developed countries. They are mainly spreading false and distorted news against Bangladesh and its government through social media outlets like Facebook, X [formerly Twitter], and YouTube.”

She said legal, technical, and diplomatic steps have been taken at home and abroad to stop the spread of misinformation and rumours.

Hasina said her government has a plan to set up a separate “Cyber Police Unit” keeping in mind the current situation in cyber space and combating cybercrime.