KERALA MONITOR SPECIAL REPORT SERIES
Twenty two Indian workers waiting for twenty one months to get deportated
By Umesh Kumar *
Thiruvananthapuram: December 7 The Indian tax payers are feeding 23 Non Resident Indian workers stranded in one of the Gulf countries as the local sponsor is not willing to clear their dues or deport them back to India following the closure of a company almost two years back. According to information made available to this correspondent by the relatives of some of the stranded Malayaleese from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottarakkara, Pandalam, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam area, these Malayalee workers are surviving on a paltry amount given by the Indian embassy in Muscat. They are also afraid of being arrested by the local labour officers or police for staying there without proper Visa and Labour cards, which have expired long back.
Waiting for two years to reach their home. Will I be able to meet my wife, daughter and friends in my whole life?? Some of the employees stranded in a Gulf country. Indians from Kerala and Tamil Nadu waiting for the D-Day to reach home.
For the last two years, all of them have been confident that the Indian embassy will help them to get all the dues from the local sponsor and deport them to India. Instead of contributing to the Indian foreign exchange reserves, these NRIs are causing a drain on the country's precious forex reserves! They include workers from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Bombay and other parts of India. Workers from Bangladesh and the Philippines are also said to be affected by the same problem.
"They have been running here and there for the last 21 months to get out of Muscat and join their family in Kerala. The company was closed sometimes in early 1999 due to some reasons. Even if there was a favourable judgement from the Commercial Court of Oman for the workers, it is yet to be fully implemented by the sponsors," says the relative of one of the affected Malayalee workers. For more than 40 expatriate workers who have worked for 10 to 20 years in the Gulf, closing down of their factory was the worst nightmare ever to happen. Now their relatives feel that even if they don't get any money, their wives, children and old parents would like to see their dear one and lead a normal life back home. Many of these workers have not visited Kerala for the last five to seven years to see their family members.
"Our salary had been unreasonably pending unpaid for the past four months from October 1998 onwards. The management is aware that delay of employees salary beyond a reasonable time is depriving the employees family too of their daily necessities. While the employees had been sincere and cooperative in their work for the company the management has not taken any steps to settle our salary to meet our daily and immediate necessities. This approach has created mental frustration among the employees," says a letter dated February 6, 1999 addressed to the sponsor of the closed company --Modern Lights Trading and Company LLC, Muscat-- Sheikh Sabha Bin Hamdan Al Saadi.
"We were promised at several occasions by Mr. Tayseer S. Administration Manager that pending salaries would be paid within a week or so. Such promises were never materialised. Whenever we approached the management and enquired about our salary, we got the reply that the salary would be paid next week," the letter states.
The worst part is that the visa and labour cards-- two most crucial legal documents required for foreign workers in any of the Gulf countries-- have expired in between and since the company closed its shutter, it could not be renewed. "You must be aware that Labour Department has imposed certain rules which will consider us as illegal employees if our Visa and Labour Cards are not renewed on or before 28th February 1999," said a letter written by the Indian workers. As their Visa and Labour Cards were not renewed before that date, they have been staying in the Gulf country as illegal workers!!! If the Labour Department or the local police catch these workers roaming around without proper work visa and labour card, they will be imprisoned and prosecuted. Fortunately, nothing of that sort happened so far but they are really feeling as if they are living in a difficult situation.
"We hereby request you to arrange to settle our pending salaries, revalidate the expired Visa and Labour cards and if not, arrangements may be made to deport us to our home country before the Visa expiry," the 1999 letter said. Even though a copy of the complaint was sent to the Directorate of Labour, Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, Government of Oman, the Embassies of India, Philippines and Bangladesh, the workers are still running around to get out of the problem.
An official letter dated 20th February 1999 from the Labour Attache of Indian Embassy in Muscat, Mr. Chander Singh addressed to Mr. Banuleyan K and 43 other workers involved in the problem advised them to approach the Ruwi Labour Court to lodge an appropriate complaint against the sponsor. "Reference your complaints dated 20.02.1999 against your sponsoring company M/s. Modern Light and Trading and Contracting Co LLC for the non payment of salaries and other dues, non provision of food, water and electricity and refusal to your repatriation on your request the embassy approached your sponsoring company on 8.22.1999 for redressal of your grievances and the manager of the company had promised to resolve the problem within ten days, time which he seems to have failed to do. Therefore, you may approach the Ruwi Labour Court to lodge an appropriate complaint against your sponsor," said the embassy letter, a copy of which is made available here by the relatives.
Therefore, the workers filed a complaint in the Labour Court with the help of a local legal consultant and the case was later transferred to the Commercial Court. While facing such crucial labour problems, Indians find it very difficult to get proper legal assistance as the entire court proceedings are said to be in Arabic. According to one of the relatives from Thiruvananthapuram, the Commercial Court of Oman gave judgement in favour of the workers. According to the Court Verdict, the Arab sponosor was asked to settle all the dues and deport the Indian workers back home within 20 days.
Despite this judgement, allege the workers relatives, the sponsor did not bother to make either the full payment and get the dues cleared or send the workers back to India. The company advocate came with a dubious plan according to which workers were asked to sign separate statements saying that they have received all claims from the company. "I the undersigned acknowledge that I have received from M/S Modern Light Trade and Cont Co LLC, my all labour rights (salaries, leave compensation and the find rewarded etc.) for my services period in the above mentioned company, and I have no right against the company to claim for. And I have no objection to close the execution file case in the Commercial Court and to cancel the embargo of the movable property belongs to Company. This is an acknowledgement by me," says a copy of the letter which the company managed to get from the workers. The letter dated September 20, 2000 is written in both English and Arabic with the thumb impression and signature. In return they were promised 60 per cent of the pending amount and deportation to India within ten days!
Instead of keeping their promise, the company managed to use this statement for some other purpose. The company ownership was transferred from the original sponsor to one of the former employees of the closed company. While the company closed its electrical maintenance contract work, the same work is said to be carried out through a new company. The workers have been running between the Indian embassy, local police station and the advocates to get their full dues and a decent exit from the country through the legal channel. When the company did not bother to fulfill its obligations as per the court directive, the workers approached Indian embassy again and even got the new sponsor arrested! Even after all these drama, there is no final settlement and now the relatives of the remaining 21 workers stranded in the Gulf are eagerly awaiting their much awaited home coming! The workers are paid 60 per cent of the pending dues but the main problem is about the huge fine to be given to the Labour Department of Oman for overstaying in the country without proper Visa and Labour Card.
The workers have been regularly writing to the Indian authorities, Secretary to the Government, Non Resident Keralaites Agency (NORKA) Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar, Indian President K.R. Narayanan and others but for no use. Recently, they send a memorandum to the Indian Prime Minister Atalbehari Vajpayee, who seems to have taken some steps to solve the problem. It is said that the Indian Prime Ministers office sent a letter to the Indian Embassy in Muscat. According to the workers relatives, even while trying to find a solution to the workers problem, the embassy officials managed to get a written statement from the workers who made the complaint to the PM office, saying that they have not made any complaints!
Partial list of the Workers affected by the closure of Modern Lights, Muscat
Kurien Kurien (Thiruvanandapuram)
Sreekumar (Kollam)
Binu (Thiruvanandapuram)
Kumareshan Manickam (Tamil Nadu-Vellore)
Raja Manikkam (Tamil Nadu)
Murukan (Tamil Nadu)
Andrews (Bombay)
Shiv Lal (Kollam)
Thomas Daniel (Kottarakkara)
Vikraman Pillai (Kottarakkara)
Keshavan (Thiruvanandapuram)
Thankappan Nair (Thiruvananthapuram)
Suresh (Thiruvanandapuram)
Vikraman (Thiruvanandapuram)
Ampi (Thiruvanandapuram)
Shaila Chandran (Thiruvanandapuram)
Mathew (Pandalam)
Bhaskaran (Pathanamthitta)
Rajashekharan (Kollam)
Shaukhath (Bangladesh)
Rajesh (Thiruvananthapuram)"Kindly note that we are living here without salary for the past one year by the help of our friends and relatives, but it has reached a situation that they are unable to extend any further help. Our sponsor is not showing any seriousness to solve our issues. The company was having enough assets to clear our dues. Instead of doing this, the sponsor formed a new company and transferred maximum assets to the new company leaving the workers in such a grave condition. In case of any emergency in our family we are unable to reach there because of the expired Visa and Labour Cards. Otherwise we have to pay huge amount of fine to get the Visa cancelled and exit from the country," says a memorandum submitted to the Kerala Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar, the Indian Prime Minister, External Affairs Ministry and the Indian Ambassador, Muscat.
"All of us approached the Indian Embassy, Muscat and according to their advise we have filed the case with Labour Court…We have no source to directly approach higher authorities such as the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, Ministry of Foreign Affairs etc. Unless it is handled through diplomatic channel, we do not expect any conclusion to our case in the near future," added the complaint lodged with the Indian authorities.
The problem raises several crucial questions about the manner in which Indian workers are treated in the Gulf countries which are notorious for their unfair labour practices. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO Gulf countries are not providing proper right to the workers even to protest against such problems. In such cases, the Indian authorities have to see to it that the illiterate Indian workers get at least proper and reliable legal assistance. If what the workers relatives claim is right, the employees were convinced by the lawyer and embassy officials to sign on dotted lines. This incident is not an isolated case in the Gulf region.
Another crucial point is the negligent attitude followed by the Indian government authorities till the Indian Prime Ministers office interfered in the case. Several memorandums and applications have been submitted to the Kerala Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Ambassador in Muscat. The famous labour union leader V.S. Achuthananthan during his fund raising campaigns in the region promised to resolve the problem, but as with other officials such promises are never fulfilled.
* The author is a Kerala based Freelance journalist.
