According to labor group Migrante International, there are close to 11,000 OFWs who are now stranded in Saudi Arabia after they were retrenched by Saudi Arabia-based construction companies because of plummeting oil prices.
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The Minister said Saudi has also given permission to eligible jobless Indian workers to get employment in other companies. The Saudi king has instructed his officials to resolve the issue in two days.
The minister, who also made a statement in the Rajya Sabha to apprise the members regarding the developments, said her deputy and Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh has been camping in Saudi Arabia since Tuesday evening and will return only after formalising the arrangements for Indian workers.
“Necessary assistance continues to be provided to our distressed citizens with the heartening support of Indian community in Saudi Arabia”, he said in a series of tweets.
Saudi Oger has built some of the most grandiose complexes in Riyadh, including the palatial Ritz-Carlton hotel.
“I am thankful to the Saudi government for very positive action and magnanimous attitude exhibited”, Singh said.
The Saudi Arabian government has “taken serious note” of violation of labour laws by a construction company resulting in financial crisis for thousands of Indian workers, Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh said on Wednesday.
India’s representative in Jeddah, Muhammad Noor Rahman Sheikh, said 2,500 of the affected workers had been employed by Saudi Oger Company, a construction firm. The situation for these employees has now turned into a humanitarian crisis, after the company stopped providing them with food or collecting trash at the camps where majority live.
Reports said India was preparing for its largest “peacetime evacuation”.
“We are now preparing a database of Bangladeshi workers at the factory and collecting details about their problems after visiting labour camps”.
The plight of Indian workers came to a head over the weekend as police in Jeddah were called to disperse a protest over non-payment of wages by the construction firm, Saudi Oger.
India is in talks with Saudi authorities for a relaxation to these rules so the Indians can be flown back in quickly.
Speaking to reporters in Jeddah, Singh added: “All the people who want to go back can go back at the expense of the government of Saudi Arabia”.
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Mission’s representatives also visited the labour court in Dammam several times and facilitated Pakistani work force in compiling claims for their dues and salaries.
