RIYADH, 9 February 2007 — Saudis wishing to recruit Indian workers would be required to sign contracts with manpower agencies undertaking to protect their (employees’) interests.
Such a contractual obligation is on the cards when a private bill now in the works is moved in the lower house of India’s Parliament. “My aim is to draw the attention of Parliament to the working conditions of non-resident Indians abroad,” said Pannyan Ravindran, a member of Parliament from the south Indian state of Kerala.
He told Arab News that Indian expatriates employed in private farms or as laborers in small establishments have no access to health insurance or other basic facilities. They also do not receive salary on a regular basis, let alone leave or any incentive. He hoped that by piloting the bill, he could extract a commitment from the government to protect NRI interests.
The MP was speaking at a reception organized by K.S. Rajan, a prominent member of the Indian community, who said some Indians were toiling without wages for several months in farms on the outskirts of Riyadh. He added that some NRI associations had raised funds for providing medical assistance to such workers when they fall sick.
Ravindran arrived in Riyadh from Jeddah on a fact-finding mission to collect data on the plight of these workers. He later left for Dammam on the final leg of his three-province tour. Besides interacting with the members of the Indian community, the MP also called on India’s Ambassador M.O.H. Farook. During his talks, the MP impressed on the ambassador the need to waive the death attestation fee. It is a statutory payment of SR180 whose abolition has been sought by the members of the Indian community.
