A top Indian official who arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to meet with the labor minister said the kingdom will provide airfares for thousands of Indian laborers who say they have not been paid their salaries in months and are stranded with no way out of the country.
Advertisement
Around 1,500 Bangladeshi migrant workers at a construction firm in Saudi Arabia have been allegedly suffering from food shortages.
A source familiar with the circumstances said some abandoned construction projects were Saudi government contracts.
Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk.
The news of workers’ suffering came to light last week when some Indian media outlets reported that around 10,000 Indian employees at the construction firm were facing food shortages.
A Lebanese newspaper reported on Wednesday that the Saudi government was in talks with Hariri on a proposal to take over Saudi Oger. Who want to go back can do so at the expense of Government of Saudi Arabia, they can file claims.
Singh said on Twitter that the Saudi government had taken “immediate action to ensure that all camps where Indian workers were staying are provided facilities like medical, food, hygiene and sanitation”. India praises KSA magnanimity The Indian minister said he had a productive interaction with Al-Haqabani to solve the problems of Indian workers.
She said her deputy and Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh was camping in Saudi Arabia since Tuesday evening and will return after formalising the arrangements for the Indian workers. The Saudi king has instructed his officials to resolve the issue in two days.
Besides discussing the situation with staff of the Indian missions and representatives of the Indian workers, the Minister would also be meeting Saudi authorities to sort out the issue. “They’ve conveyed that they’re willing to even carry those Indians on Saudi Arabian airlines back to India.
The problem is confined to a very small number”, he said.
The kingdom, like its oil-rich Gulf neighbors, relies heavily on foreign workers, many of whom are South Asians working as drivers, gardeners, builders and cleaners.
Advertisement
“While awaiting their separation pay and other money claims, some of the children of these Overseas Filipino Workers had to stop their schooling”, Labour and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello said. Many of them are employed in the region’s construction sector, building the glitzy skyscrapers and other architectural landmarks that dot the region’s landscape.
