India to evacuate starving workers from Saudi Arabia

India’s government plans to evacuate thousands of Indian workers who have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and can not afford to pay for a flight home.

Many of these workers have been fired by the Saudi construction company, Oger.

Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar would be taking up the issue with the Saudi and Kuwaiti authorities, she stated.

He revealed that a Saudi employer has come forward to absorb 1,000 workers and some other Saudi employers were also contacting the Indian mission.

Saudi Arabia’s biggest construction companies have felt the pinch, as have companies in other Gulf countries such as Kuwait, where Indian citizens also have been affected by the crisis.

Junior foreign minister, V.K. Singh will travel to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to make arrangements to repatriate them.

“We provided food to 2,450 Indian workers in five camps on Saturday”, he said. Thousands of Indian construction workers have been made redundant during an industry slowdown and Saudi authorities take no responsibility for the welfare of foreign workers.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Lok Sabha on Monday that it would be hard to obtain NOCs because the employers have shut shop and left the country.

In the past two years, the dramatic fall in oil prices and declining Saudi economy have had a big impact on the company’s fortunes, and many employees say they haven’t been paid wages since last December.

The Indian Consulate in Jeddah, with the assistance of the diaspora, has provided rations to the workers which should be sufficient for the next 8-10 days, they said. “We have to bring them back”.

The Indian consulate in Jeddah said it distributed 15,475 kilograms (34,100 pounds) of food including eggs, spices and salt over the weekend.

In a stomach rumbling turn of events, over 10,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia have been denied wages and food in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

“Swaraj said her deputy V K Singh will go to Saudi Arabia tomorrow to complete all arrangements”. These workers have not been paid for more than seven months.

What created the situation was the sudden closing down of some companies in the real estate sector leaving the workers in dire straits.