‘Azad’ visa may curtail freedom
While governments and Opposition parties are concentrating on the welfare of Gulf workers, workers are asking that the web of fake agents be curbed by maintaining registers and track records.
NRIs settled in Gulf countries say official registrations and issuing of licences to Gulfbased manpower agencies is more important than registrations of migrants.
G. Naresh, of Hyderabad, works as a site engineer with a construction company in Qatar. He said most blue-collar employees who did not have skills were being cheated by agents in Gulf countries.
“The government should register agents from India as well as the Gulf. It should maintain a list of blacklisted agents and white-list. Taking feedback from Gulf returns, the government can add bad agencies, manpower companies and agents in the blacklist. This step can be useful to those seeking jobs in the Gulf in the future,” he said.
Another NRI from Saudi Arabia, said most blue-collar workers are being exploited by agents and manpower companies.
“A few fake agencies are simply seizing passports of Indian workers and selling them to kafils (employers) for domestic help. Mostly, women are becoming victims,” he said.
Mohammed Yousuf, president of Telugu Association of Jeddah, said there was a problem with unskilled workers.
“A company recently brought sugarcane crushing labour from Maharashtra, brick labour from Odisha and construction labour from Telugu states. Those who come to Gulf want to be overnight millionaires; when they get low wages here, they run away to other employers. Before coming to the Gulf, workers should decide what they want to do. Why are Malayalis not complaining about low NGOs working for the welfare of Gulf workers are advising aspirants to be aware about the local laws and the different categories of visas.
Gulf Returnee Welfare Members Society president Shaik Chand Pasha said agents would lure aspirants with ‘azad’ visa, which allows a worker in Gulf countries two years to search for a job.
“Azad visa is for poor Arabs who are willing to establish a small scale unit. But, corrupt Arabs sell the azad visa to agents at 10,000 Saudi Riyals and the agents sell it to Telugus for `2 lakh to `3 lakh. Many victims feel that it is a royal visa but it is illegal,” he said.
The local, who sells the visa to the agent, later takes back the visa by providing Akama, and the Indian worker has to search a job on his own risk.
“To avoid legal issues, they hand wages and other issues? They are reaching Gulf through proper channels and working over the passport of the Indian worker and tell the local governments that the worker has run away. If the police catches the worker elsewhere during raids, they lodge him in jail,” Mr Chand Pasha said.
He said some women were being exploited by agents and gaining profits from both sides – from the victim and from the kafil.
“The agents collect `1.6 lakh from women on the pretext of offering jobs as domestic helps at a salary of `25,000 to `30,000 per month. Out of the `1.6 lakh, the agent collects 50 per cent as his commission and gives them a visit visa. Once in the Gulf, he hands the women over to another agent and collects up to `1 lakh from them. The agent in the Gulf sells the women to any kafil, which does not give them a single penny towards salary and treats the worker as bonded labour,” Mr Chand Pasha said. with commitment for years with an employer,” Mr Yousuf said.