Riyadh would also honor workers’ claims against companies that had defaulted on payments and had agreed to allow workers to transfer to other companies in the kingdom, he said. “Things are very fine. We have got total cooperation from the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”. Construction firms have been squeezed financially and in response have laid off tens of thousands of south Asian and other foreign workers. “Government of India will not have to spend a penny on that”, she said.
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The Arabic-language al-Akhbar newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying that talks between Saad al-Hariri and the Saudi government were in their final stages.
It added that the buyer would take over all debts and financial obligations of Saudi Oger.
Saudi government officials were also not available to speak about the reported takeover proposal.
SPA said Al-Olayan explained that the ministry was now providing facilities for 2,500 affected Indian workers in Jeddah, allowing them to transfer their sponsorships, and granting them re-entry visas.
Making a suo motu statement in Parliament, Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj told members about India’s diplomatic victory and said Saudi Arabia had also agreed to provide free medical facility and food to the Indian workers stranded in the camps.
“We have started disbursing cash among the workers at three camps namely Siteen, Aljazeera and Taif, having 300, 300 and 200 individuals, respectively”, the ambassador told the news agency from Riyadh by telephone.
Saudi’s labor minister Mufrej Al-Haqbani announced Wednesday that food and medicine would be provided to the workers, and airlines had been contacted about repatriating those who wanted to return home.
Alyan said the “immediate and urgent action” was to resolve the issues of “2,500 Indian workers from Saudi Oger who have faced difficulties due the delays in their salaries” and cut-offs in electricity and food supplies from their camps.
“We will also continue to explore opportunities to accommodate more of the unemployed workers in our companies”, he added.
Other foreign governments, including France, the Philippines and Bangladesh, have been pressing Saudi authorities and company executives to ensure that construction firms pay their workers.
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In a separate report, Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s global broadcaster, noted that thousands of people from South and Southeast Asia migrate every year to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East nations.
