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Rafiqul Islam from Dohar, Dhaka was supposed to go to Oman. I went to the airport on time. Get the news, the flight leaves. Thousands of passengers like him are in danger due to the cancellation of flights to two Middle Eastern countries. Picked up from Shahjalal airport yesterday. Photo: Kaler Kantho
The General Civil Aviation Authority (GACA) has announced the suspension of all international flights to Saudi Arabia due to the spread of new types of krone in the UK. At the moment, the ban on aviation in the country has been imposed for a week, but this period can be extended further. As a result, all Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines flights to Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam have been canceled as of Monday. Saudi Arabia has re-announced the closure of flights in response to the second corona wave. And millions of expatriate workers are trapped in it. Workers who want to return to the country, including workers from Bangladesh, are trapped in the country’s prisons. Those who came to the country are in dire straits. Apart from this, those who had made all the preparations buying tickets to return to the country, now their trip abroad was one of extreme uncertainty. Some 40,000 new visas are expected to be revoked if Saudi sanctions are extended.
Saudi expats staged roadblocks and protests in the capital to save jobs. Although some of these workers stranded in Corona have been able to leave the country in the last two months, a new crisis has emerged due to the resumption of flights. Mokabbir Hossain, Managing Director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said in a video message: “Saudi Arabia suspended flights to all international destinations for a week starting on December 21. That is why we have canceled a total of 21 Flights to three destinations in Saudi Arabia for one week. These flights were scheduled to carry 5,100 passengers from Bangladesh and about 6,000 passengers from Saudi Arabia. We will restore your seats free of charge when the flight resumes.
According to the Expatriate Welfare Office at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, from April 1 to November 30, 3,26,656 expatriates returned from 26 foreign labor markets, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. Among them, two lakh 8,474 are men and 39,264 are women.
Most expatriate workers are known to have returned from Saudi Arabia with a pass after their incarceration until Nov. 30. In the last eight months, a total of 97,006 expatriate workers, including 16,317 female workers, have been forced to return from the country. Of these, 13,413 returned with passes. On the other hand, a total of 6,525 expatriate workers, including 8,398 female workers, have been forced to return from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), another Middle Eastern country. Of these, 7,748 returned with passes.
The workers, who returned from Saudi Arabia after serving several prison terms, said they had been detained and deported for a variety of reasons, including the expiration of their contracts, fraud and expiration of their visas or lack of ikama (work permit). ). And workers returning from the UAE have said that workers are being sent back to their home countries because there are no jobs in various organizations.
Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury, general secretary of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruitment Agencies (BAIRA), an organization of labor exporters, told Noman Kaler Kanth, “60,000 visas were ready in Saudi Arabia before the epidemic of Crown. But due to the epidemic, these visas could not go. These visas were later renewed and some workers also left. Up to 40,000 workers have been affected by the resumption of flights. Even if the flight is not resumed soon, these 40,000 visas may expire. This can complicate the situation.
Foreign Minister. Speaking to a television channel on Tuesday, AK Abdul Momen said that in order to prevent the second phase of the coronavirus infection from taking a serious turn, it was necessary to make the decision to suspend all flights on international routes at this time. He said he had spoken with high-ranking government officials, including the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, about the closure of all flights on international routes.
Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism. “It has not yet been decided to stop flights to the UK,” Mahibul Haque told Kaler Kanth. “We have not yet made the decision to stop operating the flight,” he said. Now I’m watching and checking. We will officially decide what to do very soon. The loss of aircraft in Corona is approximately 3,000 crore rupees and the loss of the tourism sector is 2,000 crore rupees.
Passengers heading to Saudi Arabia are suffering from flight cancellations. Asked what the government was thinking about the matter, Mahibul Haque told reporters: “We sincerely regret the cancellation of flights with different countries due to Corona. It is beyond our jurisdiction. But what we can do is, for those who already have bought a plane ticket, this ticket will be reissued if the situation is normal without any charge. Then they can leave without spending extra money. We can do this collaboration. Bangladesh Biman has done this cooperation in the past. So we will continue this cooperation as well in the future.
Ahmed Riaz, chairman of the Bangladesh Expatriate Welfare Council, said Saudi expatriates are now at risk of losing their jobs. If they don’t return in time, they will get in trouble. They will not have a work permit.
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