Indian migrant workers stranded in Saudi

INDIA is negotiating with authorities in Saudi Arabia to repatriate thousands of migrant workers after they lost their jobs, leaving them destitute, and with no money to return home.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told parliament yesterday she was sending a junior minister to Riyadh after reports that about 10 000 workers had lost their jobs and had been left to starve.

Indians are among millions of poor Asians working in the Gulf states, where human rights groups say many suffer exploitation and abuses including non-payment of wages, with no channels for redress.

Many of the companies employing them have suffered from the drop in oil revenues from falling prices, prompting a downturn in construction and layoffs.

The Indian consulate in Jeddah has been providing free food for its nationals since their plight came to light last week, but Swaraj said the situation could not be allowed to continue.

“This can’t be a permanent solution, we will have to bring them back,” Swaraj told the lower house of parliament.

But that was being hampered by a Saudi requirement that workers provide a no-objection certificate from their employers before they could leave the country, she said.

Junior minister V K Singh would travel to Riyadh today to try to sort the situation out.

Among those stranded are about 2 450 workers laid off by Saudi Oger, the once-mighty construction giant led by Lebanon’s billionaire former prime minister, Saad Hariri.

Nearly three million Indians live and work in Saudi Arabia, according to the foreign ministry, one of the largest populations outside of India.

In late 2014, Gulf and Asian labour ministers agreed on initiatives aimed at boosting protection and improving conditions of employment for foreign workers in the Gulf. – AFP