Almost 10,000 Indians stuck in Saudi Arabia are set to be evacuated and provided with food in the meanwhile, Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister, informed the Parliament on Monday.
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The government has deputed Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh to go to Saudi Arabia to sort out the matter.
In the Parliament session today, the Minister of External Affairs Sushama Swaraj said that the Ministry will evacuate 10,000 Indians stranded in Saudi Arabia soon. Once the formalities are completed, MEA officials say they will prepare the arrangements for the evacuation of those out of three million Indians who live and work in KSA needing to return to India.
Swaraj said that while there were also reports of Indian workers in Kuwait losing their jobs, the situation in Saudi Arabia was worse. “While situation in Kuwait is manageable, matters are much worse in Saudi Arabia”, she said in a tweet.
She said more than 10,000 Indians in the country were facing a “food crisis” and dispatched one of her deputies to the country.
“Imagine the workers’ plight, many of them were just surviving on water and salt when we reached with the food packets”, said Asim Zeeshan, representative of an umbrella organization called the Indian Community of Jeddah.
Almost three million Indians live and work in Saudi Arabia, according to the foreign ministry, one of the largest populations outside of India.
A slowdown in construction activity in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries following the fall in global crude oil prices has left thousands of construction workers, mostly Indians, jobless and starving.
“It is not 800 as is being reported”, she said.
Ms Swaraj said India’s embassy has set up five camps to feed the workers and all 10,000 had received food supplies by early Monday. A 2014 agreement between Saudi Arabia and India prompted hundreds of thousands of Indians to flood to Saudi Arabia for work.
“Though salaries were not being paid for the last few months to its employees by a leading construction company, it was operating its food mess for workers till last week”. This food was distributed by an Indian community in front of the Indian consulate in Jeddah.
The hardships faced by Indian migrants come amid rising protests about working conditions in Saudi Arabia.
India is also planning on flying some of these workers home.
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The validity of the exit visa and Iqama (residency visa) of some of these workers have also lapsed and the Indian mission was working to sort out these issues with local authorities, Sheikh said.
