SLBFE initiates SMS system to help migrant workers

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) initiated a text message system to empower Sri Lankan migrant workers, by enabling them to get in touch with officials in Sri Lanka, if they face any problems in their countries of employment. Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion, Dilan Perera, addressing a media briefing yesterday, said the Short Message Service (SMS) system was to help migrant Sri Lankan workers to communicate with the Sri Lankan authorities. There will be officials of the SLBFE's Consolation Division working round the clock, to respond and provide assistance to the people who text seeking help. A ministry source told Ceylon Today, the SMS system has been introduced to help Sri Lankans who reside far away from the Sri Lankan embassies and are unable to leave the place they are employed in. The migrant workers must include their passport number in the text message they send, whereupon officials working in Sri Lanka would be able to track down which foreign employment agency sent them overseas, and thereafter track their workplace and provide the required assistance. The hotline number to which the SMS should be directed will be given to the foreign workers through the Sri Lankan embassies and employment agencies, the ministry official said.