DHAKA:  Government is thinking for alternative arrangements if Bangladeshi expatriates will not get their machine readable passports (MRP) within the stipulated time.

Malaysia-based IRIS Corporation Berhad has been working on the project of enrolling and supplying MRPs to expatriate Bangladeshis, said sources concerned.

The meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment on MRP enrolment to migrant workers discussed the matter on April 9.

During the time, attendees of the meeting have outraged by the dearth of any progress in the MRP enrolment by IRIS.

With Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in the chair, the meeting was attended by foreign minister Mahmood Ali, state minister for home affairs Asaduzzaman Khan, expatriate welfare secretary, immigration and passport department director general and other officials concerned.

After the meeting, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told reporters that there is no progress in the process of MRP enrollment.

Besides, alternative arrangements will be taken if the company fails to complete the work on time, he added.

However, decisions on alternative arrangements will be made at the next meeting, said the minister, adding “30 to 35 lakh expatriate Bangladeshis have yet to get their MRPs.”

Mentioning the government’s concern over the slow process of enrolling migrant Bangladeshis under MRP, an officer who attended the meeting said according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)-set deadline, the era of the hand-written passport will end on November 24 this year. Then the handwritten passport will not be allowed. The countries will arrest migrant Bangladeshis, who will stay without MRP after the stipulated time, and will send back to home.

The officer further said Passport Department director general has been asked to form Work Program and Monitoring Committee as at least 95 percent of Bangladeshi can get MRP within the predetermined time and Bangladesh will not lag behind in the process.

According to ICAO decision, anybody will not be allowed to travel abroad with a handwritten passport after November 24.

Bangladeshis working in other countries will face trouble if they did not get MRP within the period.

According to the government, only 25 percent migrant Bangladeshis have received MRP in the last five years.

BDST: 1419 HRS, APR 11, 2015
RS/RR/SMS