RIYADH: The governmental Human Rights Commission (HRC) has intervened in the case of Indian workers who were thrown out of their accommodation by their sponsor for complaining to the Indian Embassy about their working conditions. “This is a serious violation of local labor laws for which we have to take immediate action since the victims do not have food and shelter for their daily upkeep,” said an official from the commission who did not want to be named. He added that Human Rights Commission President Turki Al-Sudairy wrote a letter to Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi calling for action against the company after it allegedly evicted the workers from their accommodation. The HRC has also written to the owner of the company seeking an explanation. The workers are still on the streets relying on makeshift arrangements with their friends.
“No one wants to provide us shelter fearing they can become liable to punishment for housing illegal (residents),” said Manoj Kumar, one of the workers. The workers claim their passports and other important documents have not been given to them by their sponsor, so they have no proof of legal status in the Kingdom. Nobody from the contracting company, meanwhile, picked up the phone when Arab News called to get its response.
Each of the workers paid 100,000 Indian rupees (about $2,100) to a recruitment company in India for employment in the Kingdom.
When these workers arrived, believing they would work as cleaners in supermarkets, banks or other commercial retail establishments, they were instead sent to clean an industrial chemical tank in Jubail.
With the help of the Federation of Kerala Associations, the workers are asking for temporary identification papers to replace their passports, and for the Indian Embassy and the Saudi Labor Court to address their grievances against their sponsor.
