Expatriates' Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad today said migrant workers' plight starts here at home.

"From the very beginning, we are throwing them in the dark," he said, while addressing a ceremony at the Probashi Kallyan Bhaban in the capital.

The minister said there is a 90 percent chance that a migrant worker will be unable to say who is their recruiting agent. Neither can they talk about who their overseas employers are.

More sadly, if they are being asked whether they have the employment contract, most of them will be unable to say, he further said.

At the ceremony, the "Bangladesh: Sustainable Reintegration and Improved Migration Governance (Prottasha)" project, implemented by International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in partnership with Brac, handed over its hotline service to the Wage Earners' Welfare Board (WEWB) of the ministry.

An agreement signing in this regard between IOM and WEWB took place.

From now on, the Prottasha hotline service will be merged with the ministry's Probash Bondhu Call Centre to provide more integrated information support to the migrants and their communities, according to the organisers.

Addressing the ceremony as chief guest, Imran Ahmad urged migrant workers to be informed properly before migrating abroad, saying proper information will end their exploitation.

The Prottasha hotline has assisted over 2,500 people in Bangladesh and abroad since its inception in 2019, according to a handout.

On the other hand, the Probash Bondhu Call Centre receives 200 to 215 calls per day, said WEWB Director General Hamidur Rahman.

Secretary of the Expatriates' Welfare Minisry Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said the new service will play a far-reaching role in disseminating information among migrants.

Fathima Nusrath Ghazzali, officer in charge of IOM Bangladesh, said the IOM has been supporting the Bangladesh government since 1992 to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration that benefits not only the migrants but their communities.