Abdul Baset of Noakhali had migrated to Saudi Arabia with the dream of bringing solvency to his family, but he lost his life to electrocution only a short time after arriving abroad. His body returned to the country last August. In accordance with the rules, his mother, Zakia Begum, applied for an insurance claim of BDT 1 million early this year. Several months have passed, but that money has not been found. Now the family’s only reliance is her eldest son’s small tea stall. The household barely runs on that income, and the loan taken to send the younger son abroad has still not been repaid.
Thousands of families like Zakia Begum’s are waiting for insurance money. Not only the families of deceased expatriates, but many workers who are forced to return home jobless within six months of going abroad are also failing to receive their due insurance benefits according to their contracts. Under the burden of debt on one side and the shock of lost income on the other, many families have consequently fallen into severe financial distress.
Insiders primarily blame the lengthy delays and coordination gaps in settling insurance claims between the state-owned Jiban Bima Corporation (JBC) and the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board for this situation. Not only is the welfare of expatriates disrupted, but the credibility of state institutions is also tarnished.
Around 5.77 million (5,773,062) expatriate workers have come under this insurance program from 2019 through May of this year, according to data from the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board. During this period, the board paid around BDT 4.88 billion to Jiban Bima Corporation as premiums collected from them. Yet, up to last April, the settlement rate of insurance claims against these premiums was only 56.11 percent.
Data reviews show that insurance claims of nearly BDT 697.3 million for 2,100 expatriate workers and their families — comprising the deceased, those who suffered dismemberment, and those who returned home — remained overdue as of June this year. But Jiban Bima Corporation claims that BDT 228.1 million in premiums is stuck with the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board. Centring on this overdue money, the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board suspended new premium payments to Jiban Bima Corporation from February to June of this year. The rightful money of thousands of expatriate families consequently became stuck amid the tug-of-war between the two institutions.
Insurance coverage is now mandatory for all workers going abroad. To this end, a new agreement was signed in 2023 among the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, the Wage Earners' Welfare Board and Jiban Bima Corporation. Any overseas-bound worker aged 18–55 can come under a five-year insurance facility by paying a one-time premium of BDT 1,000, according to the agreement. The Wage Earners’ Welfare Board directly pays this premium collected from workers to Jiban Bima Corporation.
Under the insurance facility, there is a provision to provide compensation of up to BDT 1 million to the family in the event of the death or total permanent disability or paralysis of someone covered. Provisions are also set to provide money at a prescribed rate in case of partial disability. Financial assistance arrangements have also been kept for workers who are forced to return home jobless within six months of going abroad. The profits earned from the insurance activities are also supposed to be shared with the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, according to the agreement.
The coordination gap in software and data management between the two institutions has emerged as a major reason behind the delay in settling insurance claims. Jiban Bima Corporation claims that although the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board launched a new Management Information System (MIS) software, JBC’s system was not integrated with it. A long-standing backlog has consequently been created in claim documents exceeding BDT 5.6 billion. The institution claims that more than BDT 2.2 billion in premiums is also overdue from the board.
On the other hand, Jiban Bima Corporation is also claiming that the financial balance has been disrupted because the 2023 amended agreement increased the insurance term from two to five years and raised the compensation amount from BDT 400,000 to BDT 1 million. If operations continue in the current trend, the potential deficit at the end of the agreement’s term could stand at roughly BDT 13.55 billion.
Mohammad Abu Kawsar Jalil, general manager (Finance and Accounts Division) of Jiban Bima Corporation, told Bonik Barta, “The Welfare Board updated their system and informed us that they would no longer send hard copies; information had to be collected from their new software MIS interface. Due to this communication and system transformation, a backlog or gap of BDT 440 million was created, which JBC subsequently settled entirely by downloading the data.”
“The Welfare Board is claiming that entering data into their MIS software is JBC’s responsibility. Terming this ‘unfair’, the board has been informed via a letter that their own personnel will enter data into it. This responsibility doesn’t lie with JBC. But the insurance claims come to us, we’ll verify them and disburse the money to the Welfare Board,” he further stated.
Amid the counter-claims and demands of the two institutions, expatriate workers and their families, for whom this insurance program was launched, are suffering the most. While working abroad at the risk of their lives, some have died, some have been crippled in accidents, and others have returned to the country having lost their jobs. Yet, they are forced to wait for months to get the financial protection that was supposed to be available during times of crisis.
When asked, Md Asaduzzaman, director general of the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, told Bonik Barta, “Some money is pending with Jiban Bima; we’ll be able to resolve that very quickly. We’re also working on software-related complications and hope it’ll be resolved this week. We’re in regular communication with Jiban Bima, and they also have some money pending. I hope we can resolve this very soon.”