Although overseas employment is a crucial sector, it is yet to get adequate attention, said a high official of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.

A number of steps are now underway to improve this situation drastically. As part of the process, a committee headed by an official of the ministry has been formed to monitor high cost of migration to Malaysia and another committee headed by a home ministry official is investigating how a liaison office of Baira (Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies) was set up in Kuala Lumpur, he said.

The expatriates' welfare ministry plans formation of another committee to look into the overall situation in manpower business and identify the problems and irregularities in this sector.

And the government is also communicating with the International Organisation for Migration for further consultation on cross-border issues that affect labour migration, the official mentioned.

Experts on manpower businesses and migration say the cost of migration becomes high because of sharp competition among recruiting agencies for buying job demand letters or visas from employers in the manpower importing countries.

Manpower brokers or sub-agents at home also realise huge amounts of money, sometimes even more than the recruiting agent's profit, from overseas job seekers most of whom collect money through loans at high rates of interest or sale of land.

As per normal procedures, workers sign contract papers that describe wages, other facilities and working conditions. But a section of manpower brokers do not care for all this and send workers just as travellers. Unscrupulous recruiting agencies also make fake contract papers, showing exaggerated wages and facilities.

Such undocumented workers are either deported from the manpower importing countries, or become illegal and work under inhuman conditions if allowed to stay there.

In many cases, employers give the workers new contract papers with poor wages and less facilities, sources pointed out.

Meanwhile, cases of deception by manpower brokers have sharply increased recently. From March 1 to April 15, 39 cases were filed with Paltan Police Station and 72 with Motijheel Police Station under sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (breach of trust) of the Penal Code, according to police.

"Rate of filing of such cases is higher than any other type of cases," Sub Inspector Nurjahan of Paltan Police Station told this correspondent.

These criminals escape the grip of law due to lack of evidence because in most cases people pay money to recruiting agencies and brokers without taking any receipts.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Maksudur Rahman, who has been appointed administrator of Baira, said the emigration ordinance needs to be made more comprehensive.

With such realities, a large number of Bangladeshi workers cannot benefit from cross-border migration for jobs, sources pointed out.

Expatriates' welfare ministry officials said the government has already made it mandatory for workers to present contract papers and money receipts for payments made to recruiting agencies when they attend briefing sessions at the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

"We have in principle decided that workers must make payments to recruiting agencies through bank pay orders. The agencies also must select workers from the database of BMET for sending them abroad," a senior official said.

The government is also considering if manpower brokers could be brought under a legal framework to prevent them from cheating overseas job seekers.