Govt urged to help AP workers in Gulf

A round-table throws light on conditions of stranded Indians in Middle East

• Migrant workers either end up as bonded labourers or in jails
• 25 lakh from AP in six Arab countries where Nitaqat law is in force
• 700 migrants from AP languishing in Jeddah jails, thousands absconding
• No support system established to reach out to the Indian workers

Hyderabad: Thousands of workers who migrate to Arab countries for better earnings have ended up as bonded labourers or are serving jail sentences there, in clear violation of basic human rights and in absence of any proper legal aid.

The ‘Nitaqat’ law, introduced recently by the governments of six Middle-East countries, has only added to their pathetic state of affairs to which the Indian governments – both at central and state – have turned a blind eye.

At a round-table meeting organised by the Migrant Rights and Welfare Forum (MRWF) at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram on Sunday, representatives from various migrant rights organisations, advocates, political leaders, registered overseas recruitment consultants and the victims themselves voiced serious concerns over the conditions faced by the stranded Indians in the middle-east.

Lissy Joseph, the founder of National Domestic Workers Movement, AP, expressed grave concern over the way the hundreds of workers continue to fly to Arab nations every day, oblivion to the fact that many have been victimised and were still stranded in jails there.

She wondered who other than the government was responsible for ensuring their safe return. She said that there was a great need for a mass movement to create awareness among the people at village-level for restricting them from leaving the country.

She wondered why the ILO Convention 189 of the UN Domestic Workers Rights held in 2011, which laid strict guidelines for safeguarding the rights and ensuring minimum remuneration of the workers, was not being implemented through a mutual agreement between the nations, which has been done by other nations.

Bheem Reddy, a member of Migrant Rights Council, felt that though migration of workers couldn’t be stopped, the only solution to the issue was to go abroad through registered recruiting agencies. The emigrating individuals should be given counseling on the cost of living, environment and working conditions over there, as well as, the various Indian government schemes available to migrants in case they meet with an accident, crisis or death.

Abid Rasool Khan, chairman, AP State Minorities Commission, said that the problem was not with the agents, but with the policy of Saudi government and assured that his travel to Saudi on Sunday (November 8) would be fruitful in negotiations. He wondered why Rs 5,000 crore, which was collected as CESS, from people going abroad as emigration deposits, was rotting with the NRI Affairs Ministry and angrily asked why Vayalar Ravi was biased when it came to the welfare of AP migrant workers. He alleged that even the AP NRI Affairs Ministry was sitting idle, when its people were rotting in Arab jails. Kotapati Narasimham Naidu, President, MRWF, observed that the Azad work permits were still being issued when Nitaqat law was in force, only for reaping monetary benefits from emigrating migrants, which was wrong.