24 labourers stranded in Saudi Arabia

JAIPUR: Twenty-four labourers, many of them from Rajasthan, are the latest victims of the human traffic gangs. These labourers have been left stranded in Saudi Arabia for the past 10 months as the company where they are working is not providing them with salary and their passports have also been seized. Some labourers told TOI over phone that one of them had a stroke recently and as they don't have money for treatment, his condition is serious. The parents of another labourer died in December and January, but as he is struck in Saudi Arabia, he could not attend their funeral. He said that the worry about his safety killed them.

While 10 of these labourers are from Rajasthan, others belong to Bihar, UP, Punjab and West Bengal. Some activists have come to their rescue and are arranging food and other logistics for these people.

Some of these labourers told TOI over phone that a placement agency based in Jaipur's Sansar Chand Road had sent them to Saudi Arabia through a Mumbai-based placement company, promising a lucrative job. As soon as they reached Saudi Arabia's Al-Thuqbah, their passports were seized. They are being kept hostage and had to go without food for days.

New York-based social activist Prem Bhandari who is helping these labourers said that a placement agency kept the victims in Mumbai for a couple of months and took nearly 1 lakh from each of them. The agency promised to get them a job in a very reputed company and showed them a contract which said that they would be employed with the company for three years.

"The fake contract said that they would be able to return to India each year. However when these laborers landed in Saudi Arabia, they were shocked to find that their visa would expire in just three months. A horrifying ordeal ensued. After the visa expired, the company got the visa extended for three more months. After nine months, they didn't have visas. So now they are completely stranded. The company didn't even pay them and kept them hostage," said Bhandari.

One of these labourers Mohindar said that his mother died on December 18. His father also died the very next month.

"They were very worried about my situation. It killed them. As I am stuck in Saudi Arabia, I could even attend the funeral," crying Mohindar said.

Bhandari said that the problem of human traffickers is getting serious in Rajasthan. Last year, Bhandari had helped 82 labourers who were stranded in Saudi Arabia return to India after some of these labourers threatened to commit suicide.

"Those labourers also went through horrifying ordeal. They were kept confined to animal shelters. It took us months to bring them to India. The concerned authorities should take action against these trafficking gangs before they ruin lives of more innocent people," said Bhandari.

He added that the traffickers target illiterate people and show them fake contracts with promise of unrealistic salaries and other facilities. "Some of these people arrange for money by selling off their ancestral land. In the lastest case too, some of these 24 labourers had sold their land and the jewellery of family members to arrange money to pay the touts," said Bhandari.

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