DE Online Desk
The Ministry of Home Affairs has officially ceased recruiting labourers from Bangladesh following concerns over illegal recruitments in the Maldives.
According to a statement from Home Ministry spokesperson Fatimath Rifaath to The Sun, the decision to halt the import of Bangladeshi workers was implemented approximately a month ago.
This move comes in response to the discovery that certain companies were recruiting labourers by submitting falsified documents.
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An investigation into these activities is underway, Rifaath revealed.
Illegal migration has long been a persistent issue in the Maldives, prompting the Home Ministry to launch a special operation named ‘Kurangi’ to address the problem.
As part of this initiative, biometric data from over 700 migrants has already been collected.
The former administration initially banned recruiting labourers from Bangladesh in September 2019, but the current administration lifted the ban in December of the following year.
During a press conference in December, Home Minister Ali Ihusan disclosed that 139,220 active work permits were issued to Bangladeshi labourers.
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Still, only 39,004 of them reportedly paid the required work permit fees regularly.
As of December, 90,642 Bangladeshi labourers resided in the Maldives, which is below the cap of 100,000 outlined in the Employment Act for a single-source market. —plus.mv
