The government was arranging exit documents for those who wanted to return but could not pay for the flights, she told the parliament.
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Haq said the embassy was diligently working to ensure uninterrupted food supply to the Pakistani workers at 20 camps of the Saudi companies.
“We discussed all the issues related to Indian workers”, Singh said in a statement following the meeting in Riyadh. “He met the Labour Minister there on Wednesday, he said instructions have been given to give the Indian workers exit visa; they will send them back in their own flights, at their own expense”, Sushma Swaraj said.
Ambassador in Saudi Arabia, Manzoorul Haq has said that cash aid is being distributed among Pakistanis who are stranded in Saudi Arabia’s Dammam while Saudi authorities have assured to get them their salaries from the employers as well.
There are a total of 7,700 Indian workers, who have been rendered jobless in Saudi Arabia and were stranded in different camps for the past several weeks.
Separately, 2,450 Indian workers belonging to the Saudi Oger Company are housed in five camps in Jeddah, Mecca and Taif.
“They will also honour the claims filed by workers against the companies which have defaulted their payments”, Singh stated.
Their relatives were pressing the Telangana government to facilitate their return to India, he said.
The company is not paying workers’ wages for months.
But low oil prices have slashed economic growth and forced the Saudi government to cut spending.
Saudi Oger, the once-mighty construction giant led by Lebanon’s billionaire former prime minister Saad Hariri, is among the affected companies. “What happened is just one company did a grave and unaccepted mistake”, he said.
A source familiar with the circumstances said some of the abandoned construction projects were Saudi government contracts.
The immediate task which has been undertaken is to take care of the labor camps and the food requirements of the stranded workers.
On July 31, Swaraj tweeted that workers in Kuwait have also lost their jobs and are suffering food shortages, but that the situation there is more manageable. Construction firms have been squeezed financially and have laid off tens of thousands of south Asian and other foreign workers. “King of Saudi Arabia himself has directed his officers to resolve this issue in two days”, Ms. Swaraj said.
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The Indian consulate in Jeddah said it distributed 15,475 kilograms (34,100 pounds) of food including eggs, spices and salt over the weekend.
