Promised beautician job but forced to work as maid in Dubai, K'taka woman returns

Karwar: Promised a job as a beautician in Dubai by an agent, she was forced to work instead as a maid in a house there. With her employers seizing her passport, Poornima Bandekar had no way of returning home until the Uttar Kannada district administration’s Whatsapp service came to her rescue. And on Wednesday, the relieved woman was reunited with her family in Karwar.

It was four months ago, that she answered an advertisement by an agent promising a beautician’s job in Dubai.

“I called the agent and he promised I would get about Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 a month as salary. And so I readily agreed to go,” recounted Poornima. But on reaching Dubai she was made to work as a maid in a house instead and with her passport seized, she had no way of leaving.

Luckily a friend informed her about the WhatsApp service of the Uttar Kannada district administration and Poornima lost no time in sending a voice message to it for help. The message was immediately brought to the notice of Deputy Commissioner, S S Nakul, who contacted Mr Anis K Joy, Deputy Resident Commissioner of the Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi, asking to him to get in touch with the embassy, and the strategy worked. Poornima finally found herself free and able to return home.

"I have no words to express how happy I am to return. But after my experience, I would like to advice people not to fall prey to such agents,” she said.