Staff Correspondent

Workers who were unable to travel to Malaysia despite paying the required fees are staging a sit-in protest. They claim that they have yet to receive refunds from the recruiting agents. As a result, they have taken up positions in the Karwan Bazar area of the capital, demanding their money back along with other claims.

The protest began at 9:00 am on Wednesday. The protesters are determined to continue their sit-in until their demands are met.

The aspirant workers were unable to travel to the Southeast Asian country despite submitting money and collecting visa due to end of deadline in May last year.

They claimed that approximately 18,000 workers, who made no mistake in submitting the required funds, have received only assurances about migrating to Malaysia. However, there have been no visible initiatives from the government to either facilitate their migration or compel the recruiting agencies to refund their money.

"Complaints have gone unresolved, leaving us no choice but to continue our protest until our demands are fulfilled," said Nur Mohammad from Fatullah, Narayanganj.

He said that he paid Tk5.10 lakh to a recruiting agency but has neither been able to go to Malaysia nor received a refund, despite repeated assurances.

Billal Hossain, an aspirant from Sirajdikhan in Munshiganj, said, "Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim assured during his Dhaka visit that 18,000 workers would be taken to Malaysia. What is the update on that assurance? Has the government made any effort to send us?"

Their demands also include canceling the licenses of the 100 agencies involved in the syndicate, imposing travel bans on their owners, recovering and redistributing the money siphoned abroad by fugitive owners among the affected workers, suspending the dispatch of workers to Malaysia until the existing issues are resolved, and the immediate arrest of agents, sub-agents, and brokers acting as shields for the recruiting agencies.