Staff Correspondent
Twenty-six Bangladeshi job seekers returned to Dhaka on Monday night from a six-month ordeal in Singapore after being cheated by manpower agents. They arrived at the Zia International Airport by a Best Air flight at about 8:00pm.
The poor Bangladeshis went to Singapore in July, 2008 after being trapped by dishonest manpower agents who had promised them good jobs there. But the representatives of the agencies left them just after arriving at Singapore airport, they said.
‘I paid Tk 5.50 lakh to Gazipur Travels which promised me a job in Singapore. I was among a group of 67 who reached Singapore but instead of giving us job, the agency’s representative left us outside the airport,’ said Nazimuddin Majlish, a resident of Tongi in Gazipur.
Like Nazimuddin, more than 100 Bangladeshis went to Singapore for jobs paying large sums ranging from Tk 4.50 lakh to 5.50 lakh to different travel agencies. But none of them were given any job there.
Shahjamal Howlader of Gournadi in Barisal said that they had approached the Bangladesh high commission in Singapore but they offered no assistance. At last an organisation of the expatriates, Bangladesh Society, came to their help, they said.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
