Exploited Indian workers on way home from Trinidad

But their employers not only seized their passports but also made them work from sunrise to sunset in deplorable conditions. The men are now on their way back home after an NRI living here highlighted their plight.

Manju Verma, who has been living here for 38 years now, alerted the authorities to the condition of the three workers - Dinesh Chand Jatav, 29, Jagdish Mali, 36, and Babulal Jatav, 29.

The matter was reported to Minister of Foreign Affairs Surujattan Rambachan and Indian High Commissioner Malay Mishra, both of whom intervened swiftly. Verma told the media that some businessmen from Tunapuna, some 15 km from this capital city, not only seized the men's passports and threatened and abused them but also forced them to clean toilets as part of their work.

The men came to Trinidad and Tobago in November 2009 after responding to an advertisement in a newspaper back home seeking skilled male workers for a granite and marble fabrication company in Trinidad for three years.

After being screened, they were offered a monthly salary of approximately $400 (2,700 Trinidad and Tobago dollars), plus a $600 apartment which the businessmen promised to pay for until their contract expired.

Additionally, they were each asked to pay a bond of Rs.30,000 ($679), which they were loaned in India and had to repay with interest within six months during their employment.

Verma said when the men arrived here, their passports were seized and they had to work from sunrise to sunset every day installing granite and marble countertops at restaurants and hotels.

Of their $400 monthly salary, the men sent back 70 percent to their families, and could barely manage to eke out a living with the rest of the money. Verma said that the three could speak only Hindi and saw the Trinidad advertisement as an opportunity to better their social and financial situation.

Amidst reports that the matter was a case of human trafficking, Minister of Labour, Small and Micro Enterprise Development Errol McLeod told parliament that the issue was being investigated.

"Human trafficking and migrant labour, though not the same, go hand in hand...where the latter is done though illegal means," he said. Out of the Caribbean island nation Trinidad and Tobago's population of 1.3 million, around 44 percent are of Indian descent. Their forefathers were brought here between 1845 and 1917 to work on sugar plantations.