Twelve workers from Telangana are stranded in Saudi Arabia as their work permit expired years ago.
The workers were arrested in Saudi Arabia after they failed to produce their work permit. They sought help from the Indian embassy to be able to come back to Telangana.
Reddyboina Raju Mudiraj, a resident of Dubbak mandal, Siddipet district, spoke about the situation there and said the workers were arrested after their stay became illegal.
Raju said as many as 38 Indian workers were stranded in Saudi Arabia, out of which 12 are from Telangana.
Raju said with the help of an agent, he went to Saudi Arabia in 2014 to earn money and take care of his younger brother’s education. The agent promised Raju a job at a multinational company, but Raju was instead made to clean roads in a municipality. After a year, his work permit expired. The company did not renew it despite several requests by Raju. He stopped receiving his salary as well and in January 2019, he was asked not to report for work.
This is not just the story of Raju Mudiraj, but of all the workers who are under arrest in Saudi Arabia. As of now, a total of 38 workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Telangana are in the same situation and are asking for help
The issue came to light after Shaheen Syed, a social activist belonging to Mumbai and currently residing in Kuwait, took to Twitter and shared information with the Indian embassy about the situation of the workers.
She said, “They (the workers) are facing a very difficult situation.”
When asked about their return, the workers complained the companies for which they worked are responsible for facilitating their travel back to India, but they are showing no interest.
However, neither the Indian embassy nor the state governments took any action so far.
Stay tuned for further updates.
