About 12,000 Bangladeshis have to return from Lebanon, which has been hit by political crisis, rising commodity prices, falling currency values, and economic downturn. Those concerned fear that the remaining Bangladeshis will have to return if the crisis is not resolved soon.
It has been decided to bring these workers to the country on a chartered plane as a matter of urgency. The decision was taken at an emergency inter-ministerial meeting on Tuesday in Lebanon.
The meeting also proposed to keep the airfare within 400. However, it has not been decided yet whether the government will pay the cost of returning them or the price of the ticket. The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare has strongly objected to the payment of ticket prices, especially to unregistered workers who have not paid the premium.
At present, there are about 1.5 lakh Bangladeshi workers in Lebanon, both legal and illegal. At the inter-ministerial meeting, the secretary of the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment said most of those in Lebanon are in illegal status. In consultation with the Minister of Expatriate Welfare, a policy decision has been taken by his ministry to bring them back to the country. However, he opined that it would not be reasonable for unregistered expatriates who have not paid the premium to pay the ticket price from the Wage Earners Welfare Board. Because it means saving money of registered expatriates.
The managing director and CEO of Bangladesh Biman told the meeting that 5,788 Bangladeshis have already been repatriated from Lebanon on Biman flights. In order to bring people from Lebanon urgently by December 31, you have to divert the flight to another route, in which case the ticket price will be relatively low (US 400). However, from January 1, 2021, they will have to bring on a chartered flight, for which the ticket price can be 450 US dollars.
In response to Biman's managing director's statement, Bangladesh's ambassador to Lebanon said that expatriates had been repatriated from Lebanon at a cost of 400 per ticket on Biman's chartered flight. Expatriates will not want to pay more than 400 for a new ticket.
Several decisions were taken at the end of the meeting. First, the Bangladesh Embassy in Beirut will prepare a list of Bangladeshi workers eager to return home. There, personal information of every worker willing to be repatriated in a separate form will be collected and sent to Dhaka for verification. After receiving that list and information, Biman Bangladesh Airlines will be hired. They will be flown back on a chartered plane. Data is reserved for those Bangladeshis listed who had machine readable passports. Their Bangladesh embassy will be able to issue travel permit or TP directly.
In other cases, however, the embassy must wait for Dhaka's clearance. The Special Branch of the police will investigate them and report on everyone. The embassy will issue their TPs subject to police clearance. However, regardless of the format in which TP is issued, every employee must bring a CVID-free certificate or test negative report as per the rules.
