The Federation of Kerala Associations in Saudi Arabia (FOKASA) said on Sunday that Indian Embassy representatives had advised Indian women cleaners to leave the Kingdom if they demanded their rights to benefits from the company they were contracted to.

The women cleaners were contracted to a cleaning company in Riyadh and had not been paid for 9 months.

“The embassy representatives threatened the workers saying they would be stranded in the Kingdom if they demanded their benefits from the company. Instead they advised them to take whatever the company offered them and leave the country at the earliest,” the federation said.

FOKASA alleged that the embassy representatives also forced the workers to sign a document that they had received their dues and were fully satisfied with the embassy’s services. “The representatives asked the workers to sign such an undertaking even before distributing their meager salaries,” they said.

The workers were contracted with a salary of SR800 for 12 hours a day and end of service benefits (ESB). However, the company only paid them for 8 months without the ESB, according to FOKASA.

The federation requested the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs to instruct the Indian Embassy to force the company to pay its workers their full dues. The federation further said that the representatives had forcibly taken the workers’ mobile numbers and copied their incoming and outgoing calls. They even threatened the workers from calling anyone including the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs whom they had called earlier and explained their plight.

The embassy representatives told the workers on Wednesday night to pack up and vacate their accommodation in preparation for their flight to India from Riyadh, “but they were unable to travel to Riyadh because their travel documents could not be processed,” the Indian organization said.

However, when Arab News contacted the embassy officials they refused to comment or give any statement on the human rights issue and also requested to discontinue with the publication of the news item.

On the other hand, the Indian Embassy issued a statement last month that the embassy is in constant touch with the workers, the company’s top management and Saudi authorities and that it will continue to follow up on the case on a priority basis.

Earlier, Arab News reported that the women, who work for a cleaning company and were contracted to clean a hospital, refused to return to work until they were paid. However, they have been assured that they will be paid on time in the future.