Workers return from Iraq empty-handed, seek Government's help

Hyderabad: Many people who have returned from Iraq empty-handed are looking to the governments of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to come to their rescue and pay off their loans, which they had taken to go abroad.

While the families heaved a sigh of relief as hundreds of people from Telangana and Andhra returned from the strife-torn country, realisation soon dawned that they would now have to face the local moneylenders who had financed their travel and other expenses at high rates of interest.

Read: 2,200 Indians waiting to leave Iraq: MEA

Most of the people who returned from Iraq, who are in the 30-45 age group, come from an agriculture background and had chosen to go to Iraq to make a living when farming failed them.

“The company Alqaleel Constructions in Umrah, where I worked, did not pay my salary for four months. I paid an agent Rs 1.5 lakh, which I had borrowed from a local lender promising that I would send him money every month as I was assured Rs 40,000 per month. I had left for Iraq just six months back,” said S. Rajesham, a resident of Sarangipur mandal, Karimnagar district, who has returned with hardly any money in his account.

Read: Iraq Crisis: Six nurses from Nilgiris still in Iraq

Though he was promised by the agent that he would be paid Rs 40,000-45,000 in the first month, his employers paid only Rs 25,000. “We had to go to a  foreign country for our livelihood since we faced losses in agriculture. Now, we have these debts haunting us. We hope the government comes to our rescue and takes care of these debts,” he said.

Several others have similar horror tales to relate. P. Rambabu of East Godavari district said, “Our employers even pointed guns at us if we were lax  in work. They held on to our passports and also our dues. Finally, when the situation became volatile, the owners left the company.”

Read: 200 stranded in Iraq back in India; 20 are from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

Most of the Iraqi returnees had paid Rs 1 to Rs 2 lakh to agents who had promised them jobs with salaries of Rs 40,000-Rs 30,000. But they received far less than what was promised.

Nizamabad and Karimnagar in Telangana, and Kadapa and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh have a large number of people working in the Gulf countries.

Narayan Swamy of the Migrants Rights Council of Asia said, “According to the ministry of external affairs, there are over 16,000 Indians working in Iraq but so far, only a few hundred have returned. Many of them are still stuck in Iraq where the situation is very volatile. We are in regular touch with those from AP and Telangana, who are left without food and water as their employers have left the place. About 1,000 people from Karimnagar alone went to Iraq and only about 87 have returned. Others are surviving by begging from the locals. The government needs to expedite the process, or we will lose lives.”