Families of at least 6,000 expatriates who died abroad in accidents are yet to receive compensations even after years of waiting. And a lack of coordination among the government agencies concerned is mainly blamed for this. Officials of the Bangladesh missions in different labour receiving countries, however, blamed legal complexities in those countries as well. Omar Faruk of Laxmipur's Charvoga v
illage went to Saudi Arabia in 2001, leaving his seven-month-pregnant wife at home, in search of a better luck. But only 47 days after his arrival in the Gulf state, he was killed in a road accident. His wife did not receive any compensation in the last 13 years, though she submitted all necessary documents to get it. Having lost the sole breadwinner of the family, the widow, Shahina Yasmin, and her three children had been living on her parents' assistance and charities of their neighbours all these years. “In the last 13 years, we didn't get any compensation. In 2009, I sent all the required papers to the authorities concerned, but we are yet to get anything -- either from the government or from the Saudi employer,” Shahina told The Daily Star last week. Halima Akhter of Manikganj's Singair upazila has been waiting for compensation since her husband Yunus Ali died in a lorry crash in Saudi Arabia in 2006. Advertisement “For the last eight years, I have been trying to secure compensations so that I can bring up my little son properly. But now I'm very frustrated and dismayed over the hassles that I have been going through in the process,” she told The Daily Star recently. “I didn't marry again, considering my son's well-being ... But I'm getting tired now,” Halima said with a sigh. There are many Shahinas and Halimas that have lost their dear ones, who had left their homes with the hope of having a better life but were killed in accidents there. They are not getting the compensation they were legally entitled to. While these people continue to suffer, the government agencies concerned trade blame on each other over the delay in arranging the compensations for them. According to the Wage Earners' Welfare Board (WEWB), around 3,000 Bangladeshis on an average die abroad each year and roughly one-third of them are killed in road, fire and workplace accidents. Currently, over 6,000 cases are pending with different labour receiving countries. Many of the cases have been unresolved for 10 to 15 years. Of these, more than 2,000 cases are in Saudi Arabia, over 1,000 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 600 plus in Malaysia and the rest in some other countries, according to the WEWB of the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry. The cases are filed by the Bangladesh missions on behalf of the victim families. Quite often they don't get the required assistance from the families concerned and the WEWB, said AKM Mizanur Rahman, first secretary (labour) at the Bangladesh Embassy in the UAE. “Upon the police and hospital reports on the unnatural death of any migrant, we usually ask the officials in Bangladesh to send necessary documents demanding compensation. But we sometimes receive the documents late,” he told The Daily Star. "Then again, most of these cases were awaiting disposal at the courts of respective labour recruiting countries," Mizan added. Countering these claims, the WEWB officials said it's the mission officials, not the board, that are responsible for the delay. “The embassy officials sometimes don't respond to us on time,” Ziauddin, director (administration) of the WEWB, said. He also blamed the sluggish pace of the district manpower offices (DMOs) that are responsible for cooperating with the victim families and carrying out the required paperwork. Besides, the government assistance for the families of the dead, be it accidental or under natural circumstances, is not coming easily either. The migrants who go abroad by receiving clearance from the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) are entitled to the financial assistance. If a migrant dies abroad, his/her family gets Tk 3 lakh in financial assistance from the WEWB. However, many of the victim families have alleged that they face a lot of hassles in getting the assistance. Currently, over eight million Bangladeshis are working in various countries, according to the BMET.
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