Hyderbad: Thirty-nine of the 59 immigrants from the Telangana state who were stuck in Saudi Arabia without pay for about a year reached Hyderabad at about 5 pm on Monday.
They had gone to Saudi Arabia in search of jobs and were hired by Joannau and Paraskevaides Limited, an engineering contractor, in Riyadh.
After working for a year, workers from India stopped getting their salaries. The migrants continued to work for another year in the hope of getting paid.
Their living conditions deteriorated, they didn’t have proper accommodation and the company did not renew their iqama, the residence permit.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle over phone, Ms A. Padma wife of Mr Akkolla Babu Rao, who was stuck in Riyadh, said her husband had visited India 10 months ago returned to Riyadh in the hope of getting his pending salary as the family wanted to repay their debt. “We have loans of about Rs 15 lakh,” she said.
The TS government requested the Centre to pursue the matter of the employees with the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia. The state government’s of Telangana NRI department was in touch with the embassy.
Mr Chitti Babu, NRI wing official who received the immigrants, said, “We requested the embassy to extend all possible help to the immigrants. We asked them to issue exit passes and consider dealing with the financial implications if any from the Indian community welfare fund.”
He said the government paid Rs 1,000 for each person. TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao requested Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi to come up with a solution.
Mr Rama Rao expressed happiness over the return of the immigrants and thanked the embassy and Telangana state NRI Affairs officials for their prompt response.
Mr N. Bheem Reddy, president of the Emigrants Welfare Forum, said, “The government should adopt a policy of return, reintegration and rehabilitation. The migrants who were duped by travel agents and companies should be brought back to India as early as possible, otherwise there are chances of their getting caught by the cops and imprisoned.”
