As India prepares to evacuate thousands of expatriate workers rendered jobless in Saudi Arabia, the Kerala government is also co-ordinating efforts to reach out to Keralites among the workers.
On Monday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed the Non Resident Keralite Affairs (NORKA) Department secretary to co-ordinate relief measures with the Ministry of External Affairs and Malayali associations in the Kingdom.
The workers were employed with Saudi Oger Ltd, a Riyadh-headquartered construction and engineering company. They were dismissed from work in the wake of a crisis in the construction sector triggered by low oil prices. Some of the workers from Kerala said in video messages that their documents, including passports, were with the company and there was no access to officials in Saudi Oger’s Human Resources department.
“They haven’t been paid their salaries for seven months. Our sources tell us that many of these workers are staying back to collect the pending salaries and other benefits from the employer,” Jayaraj P, additional secretary, NORKA, told DH.
Officials said there was no confirmation on the number of Keralites among the workers who live in five labour camps. They said the scheduled Saudi Arabia visit by Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh on Tuesday will only be a starting point for the rescue and rehabilitation efforts.
“After the details are confirmed and a state-wise break-up is prepared, we can look at the process of exit visas. That’s the stage in which we play a role,” an official at NORKA-Roots, the department’s field agency, told DH.
Jayaraj said the department has made contact with some of the workers housed in the camps with assistance from Malayali associations.
“Through these workers, we are also trying to ascertain the number of Keralites in the five camps. A consolidated list is likely to be ready by tomorrow (Tuesday),” he said. Since the labour unrest unfolded, the workers have been demanding their pending salaries and passports along with air tickets to India.
The Indian Consulate in Jeddah is distributing food to workers in the five camps. “The pending salaries and rehabilitation of these workers on their return are issues which we can deal with later. Now, the focus is on reaching them and helping them with food and medicines,” Jayaraj said.
Meanwhile, the chief minister said about 700 workers from Kerala were left unemployed in Saudi Arabia. “We are taking measures to ensure that people who want to return home are brought back,” the chief minister told reporters here. Of the about 25,000 employees in Saudi Oger, about 5,000 are Indians.
DH News Service
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