A tussle between two ministries has stalled the process of sending Bangladeshi workers to Greece for marincscctorjobs.sourcessaid.

The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Ministry of Shipping arc at loggerheads over the procedure of sending workers to die European country as a recruiter gave newspa-pcradvcrtiscmcntforit.

The overseas employment min-

istry had earlier approved sending 159 workers in 25 categories in shipping sector to Greece. Some of die workers are in the categories of captain, engineer and official and the rest are labourers and cleaners, sources said.

On approval from the ministry, recruiting agency M/s Rabbi International advertised in national dailies for interview of intending workers.

But two days later, a government

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handout published in national dailies termed the advertisement illegal and asked people not to respond to it and be careful about such advertisements.

The advertisement did not meet the legal requirements for sending people abroad for marine sector jobs, the handout said.

The recruiting agency then took up the matter with the oversees employment ministry and found the Department of Shipping under the shipping ministry initiated the handout.

Officials of the overseas employment ministry told The Daily Star they had approved as per procedure sending people to Greece for employment. "We gave the approval after confirmation from our mission concerned (in Rome) and it is our job to generate overseas employment," a top official said.

"If the shipping ministry or shipping department has any objection to it, they should have contacted us before issuing such a handout. We also sent a letter to the shipping ministry for withdrawal of the handout," he added.

But shipping department officials

said the advertisement was illegal because it did not meet the requirements for recruitment of people for marine jobs. "We felt people should be made aware of such advertisements so that they are not cheated by recruiters," he said.

The handout will not be withdrawn.

He mentioned the shipping ministry will shortly publish new guidelines for sending people abroad for marine jobs.

Proprietor of Rabbi International Mohammad Bashir said he will go to court if the handout is not withdrawn immediately.

The handout harmed goodwill of his firm and scope of huge employment in Greece and other European countries in marine sector, he said. "I will also demand compensation."

Bashir claimed at least 50,000 Bangladeshis could be employed in marine sector in Greece.

Sources said the state minister for overseas employment and some high officials of the ministry visited Athens last year and requested the authorities there to recruit Bangladeshi workers.