RIYADH: With Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj making an emotional appeal, philanthropic Indians responded to the call and joined Indian missions in extending cooperation as part of their humanitarian services to distressed fellow Indian workers.
Swaraj tweeted late on Saturday, “I appeal to the three million Indians living in Saudi Arabia. Please help your fellow brothers and sisters. There is nothing mightier than the collective will of the Indian nation.”
The Indian Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate in Jeddah also reached out to prominent Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to help these starving workers, and members of the community came forward to provide succor to distressed compatriots.
“Ambassador Ahmad Javed has directly contacted LuLu Group Chairman Yusuff Ali for humanitarian support; he immediately agreed to cooperate and about 600 Indian workers in the Eastern Province have been given dry rations for the past 10 days,” Shehim Mohammed, regional director of the Lulu Hypermarket here, told Arab News on Sunday.
When asked about further help and extending cooperation to these laid-off workers, he said, “we will do more on further requests from the embassy.”
Speaking to Arab News on Sunday, Consul General Noor Rahman Sheikh said, “Besides our efforts, we reached out to members of the community to help these workers, including Lulu group who came forward wholeheartedly and have been very helpful.”
When asked about the exact number of workers facing problems, as the Indian media reported that 10,000 Indians are stranded and starving in the Kingdom, he rejected this claim saying, “this is the total number of laid off workers of different nationalities living in camps; when we at the consulate started extending food support and other help, the head count was 2,450 workers living in five camps.” He stated that these workers are living in three camps in Jeddah and one each in Shumaisi on the outskirt of Makkah and Taif.
In a reply on the crisis, he said that the non-payment of salaries to the workers for several months worsens their condition, although Saudi Binladin made payment in Ramadan, Saudi Oger employees were unpaid.
On handling the situation for the laid off workers, he said Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. (retd.) V.K. Singh “will arrive in the next couple of days to take stock of the situation and discuss the issue with the Saudi authorities.”
When asked that if the laid off workers will be airlifted, the diplomat said, “there is a plan to seek their return.”
A large number of Indians have lost their jobs in the Kingdom and Kuwait due to companies facing a financial crunch and were not paid wages for months, hence facing a severe food shortage due to financial hardship after losing their jobs.
Gulf-based construction firms have been among the hardest-hit due to lower oil prices that have curbed and delayed government spending on infrastructure projects.
Indian mission, NRIs come to the rescue of starving expats
Indian mission, NRIs come to the rescue of starving expats
