People urged not to go abroad through sea

Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Nurul Islam B.Sc on Saturday said that there was no need to put life at stake for going abroad through the sea.

"Many fortune-seekers are trying to go abroad on boats and dying in the sea but now it is needless as the present government is sending people abroad in easy ways", he said.

The Expatriate Welfare Minister came up with the comment while distributing cheques for grants and compensations among the family members of the deceased expatriate workers.

Terming the present government as a pro-poor, the minister said he had asked his ministry to issue the cheques within two months to ease the sufferings of the deceased`s families which earlier had to wait for years to get their cheques.

The present government, he said, is now paying Taka three lakhs instead of two lakhs to each family.

The minister also announced to provide an ambulance from his ministry to carry home the dead bodies free from the airports.

Assistant Director of District Employment and Manpower Office Mohammad Jahirul Alam informed the meeting that a total of Taka one crore 31 lakh was donated among 48 families of dead expatriates in Qatar, Oman, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia from the Wage Earners Welfare Board of the ministry.

Held at the conference room of Chittagong Circuit House, the meeting was attended, among others, by expatriate welfare secretary Khandakar Mohammad Iftekhar Haidar and Deputy Commissioner Mejbah Uddin.