289 Bangladeshis return from Oman, 164 from India
A total of 289 expatriate Bangladeshi workers returned home from Oman while 164 more Bangladeshis, who have been stranded in South India amid flight suspension due to COVID-19 pandemic, arrived Dhaka by separate chartered flights on Thursday, reports BSS.
A special flight of Oman Air landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) around 6:21pm carrying 289 the Bangladesh citizens, HISA director group captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan told media.
Oman bore the cost of the flight to send back the second batch of Bangladeshis as 292 expatriate workers first arrived on 24 April from the Middle Eastern (ME) nation that took decongestion policy levelling migrant workers as like some of its neighbouring countries fearing rise of the pandemic.
Saudi Arabia was the first ME country that sent more than 200 expatiate labourers on 15 April after outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic that forced job cut of migrant workers employed in the oil-rich nation.
As per the government decision, all returnee workers will be sent to a 14-day institutional quarantine under the Armed Forces Division (AFD) management after a medical check-up at the airport.
The returned expatriate workers received Tk 5,000 on arrival at the airport according to a government decision, taken early this month.
Earlier, foreign minister AK Abdul Momen, at a video conference with his counterparts of OIC’s executive committee member states, urged the OIC countries to give utmost importance on the issue of job retention of domestic and resident migrant workers.
Besides, 164 stranded Bangladeshis arrived Dhaka from Chennai by a chartered flight of US-Bangla Airlines facilitated by the government in coordination with Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.
A chartered flight of US-Airlines landed at HSIA around 3:00pm today (Thursday) carrying 163 Bangladesh citizens, including one infant, HISA director confirmed.
From 20 April till Thursday, nearly 1200 Bangladeshis were brought back from India by seven chartered flights – six from Chennai, operated by US- Bangla Airlines, and one from New Delhi, operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines. The passengers bore the cost of their tickets.
Bangladesh High Commission in India has kept their efforts on to facilitate the return of more Bangladeshis who are still stuck up in India.
Six more chartered flights are scheduled to bring back more stranded Bangladeshi from Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines will operate chartered flights to Dhaka from Kolkata on 1 May, from New Delhi on 2 and 5 May and from Mumbai on 3 May. The US-Bangla Airlines will operate two more special flights from Chennai on 1 and 2 May.
On 3 April, the foreign ministry issued a statement, saying that nearly 2,500 Bangladeshis, including 1000 students, were stranded in India due to lockdown following the coronavirus outbreak.