Elderly Indians shouldn't take farm jobs in S Arabia: diplomat

S D Moorthy, consul (community welfare) at the Indian Consulate in Jeddah said that some workers desperate to come to Saudi Arabia to earn a living are lured by unscrupulous agents who promise them good salaries without apprising them of the nature and demands of the jobs.

He said the mission regularly gets complaints from many workers who cannot cope with the work conditions on the farms, the Arab news reported.

"It is a tough job for the physically weak and aged. Such vocations include loading and unloading of goods, planting and watering crops, feeding and looking after the livestock on a 24-hour basis. Furthermore, the worker has to live in a hut on a farm through hot and cold weather," Moorthy was quoted as saying.

Citing a recent case, Moorthy said a 51-year old man named P Govindasamy, from Tamil Nadu, who came to work as a shepherd at Al-Kharj, some 60 km from Riyadh in February 2010, could not cope up with the tough conditions there.

"He worked with the sponsor for six months and was unable to cope with the work conditions. He developed a skin disease and breathing problems.

"On seeing his feeble condition, his sponsor sent him away from the farm. He reached the Indian Consulate in a poor condition with many medical complications," Moorthy said.
The consulate issued him a travel document to return to India and his case was taken up with the Passport Department officials. He was repatriated on Thursday.