The Indian consulate and community in Saudi Arabia distributed food on Saturday night among Indians who lost their job and were on the brink of starvation in the Kingdom.
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“The employers have not paid wages, closed down their factories”, she said.
Swaraj told lawmakers that India’s junior foreign minister, V.K. Singh, will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet with officials to arrange for the workers’ return. The effects of the economic downturn in the Gulf have severely affected the Indian workforce in the region, with over 10,000 workers affected, they said.
Junior Foreign Minister VK Singh will be traveling to Saudi Arabia to kick-start the repatriation process.
It posted pictures of Indian people queuing up to collect the food packets, eggs, spices and salt provided by its officials.
On Sunday, Ms Swaraj tweeted that workers in Kuwait have also lost their jobs and are suffering food shortages, but that the situation there is more manageable.
Initially there was a report that around 800 Indians were starving for the last three days in Jeddah.”I assure you that no Indian worker rendered unemployed in Saudi Arabia will go without food”.
The workers were mostly employed by Saudi construction companies and were laid off amid a slowdown in the industry caused by low global oil prices.
“My colleague @Gen_VKSingh is reaching Saudi Arabia to sort out all such matters,” she stated. And the Indian Consulate in Jeddah has been delivering food.
Saudi Arabia has the largest number of Indian passport holders outside India, majority are employed as blue collar workers.
Riyadh claims that its foreign labor inspectors investigate all complaints against companies and employers who are unfair to their employees and force them to stick to the letter of the law in their contracts.
Appealing to the over three million-strong expatriate Indian population in Saudi Arabia to “help your brothers and sisters”, Swaraj said: “There is nothing mightier than the collective will of Indian nation”.
The government is planning to evacuate a large number of Indian workers, who are jobless following widespread layoffs in Saudi Arabia. The firm had not paid salaries for the last seven months, and had also stopped providing food to the workers.
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In November 2014, Gulf and Asian labour ministers agreed on a series of initiatives aimed at boosting protection and improving conditions of employment for foreign workers in the Gulf.
