SHATTERED DREAMS
THE GULF MALAYALEE IS ON THE EDGE: SLIDING OIL PRICES AND STAGNANT ECONOMIES ARE RESULTING IN MORE AND MORE LAYOFFS
For 57yearold Kunjupanicker Vijayan, Jeddah is a more familiar place than his native Elavumthitta village in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. He has lived in this Saudi Arabian city for most of the past 35 years, working initially as a cook, one of the many jobs he’s tried in his time here. He’s currently a security guard with Electro Industries Company, a leading advertising and decoration products manufacturing firm. Vijayan, though, isn’t too keen to stay any longer. “The Lebanese management has not paid salaries for the past 10 months. I have to get 53,288 Saudi rials (Rs 9.5 lakh) in final settlement,” rues Vijayan, who is among the 650 workers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines stranded in a camp in Jeddah, some 25 km away from the airport.
There are countless others like him, desperate to collect their dues and return home. The irony is that the Indian embassy suggests they collect their exit visas and leave. “This is a trap. Once we take the exit visa and leave, there’ll be no way of getting back our dues. I can’t return home without the money, I’d rather stay here and die. All this time, when I was toiling here, the only consolation was my salary and bonus. Now I’m left with nothing,” he told india today over the phone.
Tens of thousands of bluecollar workers are finding their dreams turning sour, as several private companies (most of them Lebaneseowned) operating in the kingdom are downing shutters following government cutbacks on projects. Sliding oil prices and a profligate welfare economy have only exacerbated the deep economic crisis. A small consolation for victims like Vijayan is that employers continue to feed them at the common mess facilities. He and others like P. Bhaskaran (from Koilur in Kannur district) are determined to rough it out till they get their salary arrears.
Bhaskaran did get a compensation award of 71,000 riyals (Rs 12.6 lakh) from a Saudi labour court, but has yet to see any of the money as his employers have filed an appeal. That has been pending for the past two months. “The only saving grace is that my iqama (residence permit) is
valid till November. Most others do not have this choice as their iqamas have expired. They have to remain confined to the camp and hope that they get the money and then take the exit visa,” he explains. “It’s a boon for the companies. They take advantage of Saudi laws to deny us our dues.”
The apprehensions have only increased since one company sacked 50,000 workers and issued exit visas (in April). Some enraged workers set the company vehicles parked in the labour camps on fire. “They are at their wits’ end. The government of India and the diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia have to take steps to assure them that their dues will be paid. How else can these workers go back home?” asks Nawas Vembayam, a businessman and social activist in Jeddah who has helped many stranded Indian labourers recover their dues. “King Salman bin AbdulAziz Al Saud’s government has decreed that they will help the workers. It has also sanctioned a hundred million Saudi riyals to pay off workers’ dues. It’s a generous move and the Indian government should take the initiative to present our workers’ cases properly.”
Back home, K.V. Abdul Khader, the CPI(M) legislator representing Guruvayur, a haven of nonresident Keralites, says, “More people are going to return as more companies opt for layoffs. Kerala will be the worst hit by the Gulf meltdown.” The general secretary of the NRI organisation, the Kerala Pravasi Sangam, fears that “this could even become a cause for social unrest in Kerala…reverse migration is a complex issue that may ruin the state forever. The Gulf returnees went out as breadwinners, but are now returning virtually as liabilities.”
Former diplomat T.P. Sreenivasan, though, is a bit more optimistic. “This seems to be a temporary phenomenon,” he says. “They will tide over the crisis even if oil prices stabilise at 30 dollars a barrel. I think the Gulf countries will be a dream destination for Indian unskilled and semiskilled workers for at least another 20 years.” Not too many are sure any more. A Keralabased businessman with interests in Saudi Arabia, says, “Things are changing for the worse. The nitaqat law (mandatory hiring of locals) has wiped out the small business ventures run by expats. Most of these shops were run by Keralites. And now mega construction companies are bursting like bubbles and sacking workers. It’s an indication that things are not moving in the right direction.” The fact that the businessman didn’t want to reveal his name shows how cagey the Indian community has become in the Arab kingdom.
THE IRONY IS THE INDIAN EMBASSY SUGGESTS THEY
COLLECT EXIT VISAS AND LEAVE.
“IT’S A TRAP. IF WE DO THAT, THERE IS NO WAY WE’LL GET OUR DUES...”