Forty five Indian workers who have not been paid for four months are stuck in a labour camp near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
According to reports, the Indian mission in the Kingdom has raised the issue with the authorities in the hope they will help resolve it.
“We have been in talks with the sponsoring company which is arranging for their final exit from Saudi Arabia. We are trying our best and by next week or the first week of December, the matter should be resolved,” Raj Kumar, Consul (Community) in Jeddah told PTI.
“We are in touch with the workers and the company. Currently, we have made arrangements for providing workers with food near their camp,” he added.
The contracting company that originally brought the workers to Saudi Arabia then arranged for them to work for another construction firm for a period, and that company has allegedly not paid them since July, according to the Saudi Gazette.
The workers lodged a complaint with Saudi’s labour court, following which seven of their co-workers were given their final exits.
The remaining workers reportedly do not have residency permits and are also seeking final exit visas but are caught in the middle of a battle between their sponsor company, Dammam-based Sejong Saudi (Korean) Contracting Construction Company, and the firm they were lent to for a construction project.
The handler of the workers in Jeddah, the project engineer of the construction company, denied he has anything to do with the problem.
However, the alleged handler of the workers in Jeddah, the project engineer of the construction company, says is reported as denying the problem has anything to do with him.
On 21 October, Vice Consul (Labour) Anup Singh and official Mohammad Iqbal K P visited the camp to meet the workers.
A canteen has recently been set up near their base to supply them with food until the issue is resolved.
