After riots perpetrated by local workers, Uzbek company Enter Engineering has reportedly hired hundreds of Bangladeshi workers.
On November 8, Enter Engineering reportedly brought 239 Bangladeshi workers by a special charter flight to Tashkent.
According to Central Asia.media, an employee of Enter Engineering says hundreds of workers were fired after riots that took place on October 21, adding that “Bangladeshi workers are now taking our workplaces.”
Meanwhile, an official with Enter Engineering, who introduced himself as representative of the company personnel department, says that recruitment of Bangladeshi workers has nothing to do with riots that took place twenty days ago. “The construction of the plant must be completed before the end of the year. In accordance with the plan, skilled specialists from Bangladesh must be recruited for the assembly of equipment. Their arrival will not affect Uzbek workers. Everyone has their own business,” the official was quoted as saying by Central Asia.media.
According to him, Enter Engineering at the end of the last year concluded agreements with three international suppliers on recruitment of foreign workers.
Enter Engineering has been constructing a large gas-to-liquid facility in the Guzar district. On October 21, thousands of workers at the facility under construction rioted, storming the facility's administration building.
On October 21, thousands of workers at the facility under construction in the Guzar district rioted, storming the facility's administration building. The riots reportedly started after Enter Engineering failed to provide employees with food on the evening on October 20, which added to the workers' ongoing frustration over unpaid salaries.
Hundreds of workers were fired and criminal proceedings were instituted against 20 workers.
Meanwhile, Bangladeshi Daily Star reported on October 8 that the first batch of 239 Bangladeshi workers flew to Uzbekistan aboard a special aircraft of Uzbekistan Air at 10:30am from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).
Bangladesh's Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jahangir Alam said a total of 888 workers would go to the country on three special flights in a row — through four recruiting agencies — in the process of exporting skilled workers from Bangladesh.
According to Daily Star, Bangladeshi workers will work for an engineering company in Karshi, about 450 kilometers from Tashkent.
Besides, the government is also looking at exporting manpower to different Central Asian countries, Daily Star said.
