500 nurses from Kerala duped, stranded in UAE, seek CM’s help

RECRUITMENT AGENCY'S PROPRIETOR FIZROZE KHAN WAS ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN ANOTHER CASE OF CHEATING

At least 500 nurses from Kerala who were promised high salary and other perks are stranded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after being allegedly duped by recruiting agents. Some stranded nurses have written t o the chief minister, however, his office said they haven’t received any such complaint.

One of them Reen Rajan (30) said she applied for the job after she came across an advertisement in leading newspapers that UAE was recruiting nurses on urgent basis in view of the pandemic situation and Keralites will be given preference. “I had to cough up ₹2.30 lakh to the agent and later she was granted a visiting visa,” said Rajan, who spoke over the phone to HT. She said, the agent told her that work visa will be granted once they reach UAE. We are herded in dingy rooms for about a month. Some of them have returned after they came to know they were cheated. We were recruited by a Kochi-based agency ‘Take Off ’ two months back. Now these agents are saying we can work in care homes and massage parlours,” said Rajan, who quit her job with a private hospital in Kollam to take up the new assignment.

She said that she sent a letter to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan narrating her plight and also took up the issue with MLA K B Ganesh Kumar. When contacted, the CM’s office said they are yet to know about their complaint. Police are yet to register a complaint.

Her brother Rijo Rajan, who is working in Kollam said, after he came to know about his sister’s plight he made inquiries about the agency and came to know that its proprietor Fizroze Khan was allegedly involved in another case of cheating and was in jail for some time. He said after his release he closed his agency “Keydot” and started a new one “Take Off” to cheat gullible aspirants. Most of the stranded said they paid between ₹2-4 lakh to get the visa.

“Some of us have taken a loan to pay up. They know our precarious financial situation and so they are forcing us to do odd jobs. We were promised ₹1 lakh pay package and accommodation and they showed us some videos of nurses recruited by them. We were asked not to disclose it to anyone as recruitment of nurses was only permitted through government- approved agencies,” said another stranded nurse Susan Saji.

Some of them said they applied after they were told that there were enough vacancies as hospitals need nurses urgently due to the pandemic situation.